Pakistan have confirmed a 16-man squad for next month’s two-Test trip to Bangladesh, handing first call-ups to Abdullah Fazal, Amad Butt, Azan Awais and wicketkeeper-batter Ghazi Ghori. Former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, who hung up his gloves only a few weeks back, takes over as head coach.
A brief note on the newcomers. Fazal has piled up runs for Lahore in domestic four-day cricket, Amad’s brisk medium-pace keeps him in selectors’ thoughts every season, Awais has been marked out as a patient opener, while Ghori – the only one with senior caps of any sort – kept in Pakistan’s solitary ODI in Mirpur last month. All four have been part of recent National Cricket Academy programmes, so the jump shouldn’t feel entirely alien.
Shan Masood continues as Test skipper but the support staff around him looks fresh. Asad Shafiq, remembered for endless hours at No. 6, comes in as batting coach; Umar Gul, once the master of late-innings yorkers, will run the bowling group.
Sarfaraz’s appointment is hardly left-field. He lifted the 2017 Champions Trophy as captain and, more recently, mentored the Pakistan Shaheens in England. Those close to the side say he already enjoys the dressing-room’s trust. A PCB official put it simply: “He’s only just stopped playing, so he understands what these lads need day to day.”
Five squad members – Awais, Imam-ul-Haq, Ghori, Noman Ali and Sajid Khan – are already in a red-ball conditioning camp in Lahore. The rest, minus anyone still alive in the PSL knock-outs, gather in Karachi from 27 April to 1 May. PSL finalists will join up as soon as the trophy is handed over on 3 May, and the full touring party flies out the next morning.
The schedule is straightforward: first Test in Dhaka (8-12 May), second in Sylhet (16-20 May). Conditions are expected to spin, as usual, hence the presence of three frontline slow bowlers plus part-time options. Still, Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali and Mohammad Abbas give Masood a balanced seam attack should early-summer cloud cover appear.
Pakistan’s Test squad v Bangladesh
Shan Masood (capt), Abdullah Fazal, Amad Butt, Azan Awais, Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wk), Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
There is quiet optimism but no chest-thumping. Pakistan haven’t toured Bangladesh for red-ball cricket since 2020 and know the hosts rarely give anything away at home. A senior player, speaking informally during PSL week, summed it up: “Win the first hour in Mirpur, or you spend the rest of the game catching up.” The message seems clear enough.
