Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq announced a list of 22 probables for the tour of England. The selected players will be a part of a boot camp, which will be held at the Pakistan Military Camp in Abbottabad. After that, the 22 players will also feature in a skills camp until June 5.
The most notable omission from this list of probable players was Ahmed Shehzad.
Fawad Alam, who was a part of the Test series against England last year, was also snubbed. Instead Inzamam and the rest of the selectors decided to pick Iftikhar Ahmed, who can bowl a little bit of offspin as well. Iftikhar made his debut for Pakistan against England in the United Arab Emirates last year.
"We did consider him Alam for the selection, but we have a packed middle order with Younis Khan, Misbah, Asad Shafiq, and we have an option of Iftikhar Ahmed who can bowl off-spin from which we can have an edge against left-hand batsmen," Inzamam was quoted as saying by Cricinfo.
Asif Zakir and Akbar-ur-Rehman were the two uncapped players picked for the camp. Both batsmen are from Karachi and they have a very good domestic record. Zakir has scored 791 runs in his 10 first class games at an average of 56.50 and Rehman piled up 761 runs at an impressive average of 58.53.
Mohammad Hafeez and Yasir Shah are also expected to be fit ahead of the skills camp. Both players are nursing knee injuries.
Wahab Riaz, who is currently playing county cricket for Essex in England, will miss the skills camp and will join the team directly during the tour.
Mohammad Amir, Rahat Ali, Imran Khan, Sohail Khan, Junaid Khan and Ehsan Adil are the other seamers who have made it to the list of 22 probables for England tour. Zulfiqar Babar will be the other spinning option.
Inzamam also admitted that the Pakistan selectors have struggled to find a quality all-rounder for a very long time now, but he is hopeful that this team can put up a good show in England.
"Since Abdul Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood, we haven't found a real allrounder who can come and can maintain the balance of the team. But still we can make an XI without an all-rounder," Inzamam said.
Only 16 players out of these 22 will board the flight to England next month.
Here are the 22 players:
Openers: Mohammad Hafeez, Sami Aslam, Shan Masood, Khurram Manzoor.
Middle-order batsmen: Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah ul Haq, Asad Shafiq, Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Zakir, Akbar-ur-Rehman.
Seamers: Mohammad Amir, Rahat Ali, Imran Khan, Sohail Khan, Junaid Khan, Ehsan Adil, Wahab Riaz.
Spinners: Yasir Shah, Zulfiqar Babar.
Wicketkeepers: Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan.
