No big surprises in Pakistan’s Test squad

Pakistan News: Younis and Gul return along with three new faces

Pakistan’s squad for the upcoming two-Test series against West Indies has been announced by the selection committee. Apart from inclusion of Mohammad Salman ahead of Adnan Akmal, there are no surprises in 15-member squad. As expected, Umar Gul and Younis Khan have been recalled after being rested from the ODI series.

Hammad Azam, Salman and Junaid Khan are the uncapped players who are given chance on the basis of their potential. Salman has been preferred over Adnan Akmal, who had replaced his elder brother Kamran as Test wicketkeeper after he was sacked last year. In four Tests against South Africa and New Zealand, Adnan performed OK with the taking of 17 dismissals.

Hammad Azam is seen as a potential batting all-rounder, which Pakistan has been looking for a long time. Junaid has been rewarded for his brilliant showings in the domestic first class season.

Misbah-ul-Haq continues to lead the side, after he had handled the responsibility proficiently in the aftermath of the spot-fixing saga. Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali are being seen as long-term prospects for the middle order. Taufeeq Umar will partner Hafeez upfront, with no other specialist opener in the squad. Khurram Manzoor and Fawad Alam are continued to be ignored by the selectors, while Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik remain out of favor.

Pakistan, who are yet to win a Test series in West Indies, stand more than a decent chance to break that sequence against a weakened Caribbean side. Bowling comprises of four fast bowlers with two spinners in Saeed Ajmal and Abdur Rehman, apart from all-round abilities of Hammad and Hafeez.

The first Test starts on May 12 at Providence Stadium in Guyana while the second and last will be played at Warner Park in St Kitts from May 20.

Test Squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Younis Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Hammad Azam, Azhar Ali, Umar Gul, Mohammad Salman (wk), Saeed Ajmal, Wahab Riaz, Abdur Rehman, Junaid Khan, Tanvir Ahmed