Islamabad, April 16 (TNS): Fawad Alam has been ousted from the team once again as the squad was announced on Sunday. Many cricket fans raised their eyebrows after the squad was unveiled for the test series and there was a storm on social media over the injustice with the left-hand batsman.
Imam ul Haq received a maiden call-up for the test series who is also the nephew of the Pakistan chief selector Inzamam Ul Haq.
Many cricket experts felt that it was injustice with Fawad who has been performing for the last seven seasons and was ignored in favour of Imam Ul Haq.
Fawad Alam has been performing relentlessly in domestic cricket for a long time and has more than 10,000 runs and 27 centuries in first class, but the 33-year old has been ignored time and time again.
The unorthodox left-handed batsman has been scoring freely with an average of 55.56, 72 and recently 41. He was the sixth highest scorer in the recently concluded domestic season with 570 runs to his name.
Fawad has the required technique for the longest format of the game and his game is suited to test cricket, he would have been a key figure in Pakistan’s batting lineup in the upcoming series in England, but once again he was overseen by the selectors after making the preliminary 25 –man squad.
The selectors have gone for Younger legs in Fakhar and Imam, but both lack experience as well as the mental strength in test cricket to combat the vicious spells of Anderson and Broad in English conditions.
Shadab Khan has replaced Yasir Shah who has been sidelined through injury for three to four months and will be a big loss as the green shirts prepare to face England in the test series.
Pakistan will also be without left-arm pacer Wahab Riaz as Mickey Arthur has discarded him long ago in the Test format.
However, there have been few exciting and untested additions in the Squad like left-hand batsman Saad Ali and Usman Salahuddin but it is yet to be seen whether they make the playing XI.
Pakistan will play Ireland on May 11 which will be the first ever test in the history of Irish cricket. The Inaugural Test will be played in Dublin.
Pakistan will then face a stern test at the home of cricket Lord’s against England on May 24th.
The second and the last test of the series will commence on June 1st at Leeds.
Squad: Sarfraz Ahmed (capt &wk), Azhar Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Sami Aslam, Haris Sohail, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Saad Ali, Asad Shafiq, Usman Salahuddin, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Abbas, Hasan Ali,Rahat Ali, Faheem Ashraf
