Pakistan announced their 16-member squad for the Test series against Sri Lanka, with Shaheen Afridi returning to the Test side after one year. He will return to the side after injuring himself during the tour of Sri Lanka, where Pakistan will play two matches as part of the World Test Championship 2023-25 in July.
"After missing our entire home season because of the injury I suffered in Sri Lanka, I am eager to make an impactful comeback in the same country and complete a century of wickets in Test cricket," Shaheen said.
The pacer is one wicket away from reaching 100 Test wickets. No other Pakistan bowler has picked up more wickets than him since he made his debut in December 2018. The 23-year-old averages 24.86 and has an economy of 3.04.
Two new faces will also hope to make their debuts for Pakistan. They are batter Mohammad Huraira and all-rounder Amir Jamal. The Pakistani team will leave for Sri Lanka on July 9. The dates for the series have not been announced yet.
The side have included six specialist batters, four spinners, four fast bowlers and two wicketkeepers for the Sri Lanka tour. Mohammad Huraira has been in good form in domestic cricket for some time, earning him a national team call-up. He was the highest run-scorer in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, a First Class tournament in Pakistan, for the last two seasons.
In the 2022-23 season, he was the only batter with more than 1000 runs. He scored 1024 runs in 11 matches at an average of 73.14. With this, his team won the title for the first time. The 21-year-old has played 24 First-Class matches so far, 10 List A and eight T20 games. He also scored 178 and 64 against New Zealand A during the tour of Zimbabwe in May. He is the second youngest Pakistani after Javed Miandad to score a triple century in First-Class cricket.
When both sides played the Test series last year, they were equal to 1-1.
Pakistan team for Test series against Sri Lanka
Babar Azam (Captain), Mohammad Rizwan (Wicket-keeper and Vice-captain), Amir Jamal, Abdullah Shafiq, Abrar Ahmed, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Nawaz, Nauman Ali, Salman Agha, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicket-keeper), Saud Shakeel, Shan Masood, Shaheen Afridi.
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