Pakistan drop Shaheen, Hasan and Noman for West Indies and England Tests

Babar Azam has returned as Pakistan's Test captain, replacing Shan Masood, who had led the team since December 2023. Babar's first assignments back in charge will be a two-Test tour of the West Indies and then a three-Test series in England; Masood, however, retained his place in the squad.

There have been more notable changes to the squad that lost 2-0 in Bangladesh in May, with the senior trio of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali, and Noman Ali all dropped. Saud Shakeel will not travel to West Indies due to fitness concerns but he has been included in the squad for the England Tests, subject to recovery.

Mohammad Ali and Aamir Jamal have been recalled to the 16-player squad, while fast bowler Ubaid Shah - the youngest of the Shah brothers, Naseem and Hunain being the others - left-arm spinner Ali Usman and Awais Zafar have earned maiden call-ups.

Pakistan are currently at the bottom of the nine-team World Test Championship standings with only one win from four matches, and the selectors are banking on a new-look pace attack to improve the team's fortunes.

The pace battery of Shaheen, Hasan, Mohammad Abbas, and Khurram Shahzad attracted scrutiny for their dwindling speeds during the two-Test series in Bangladesh. While Abbas and Shahzad remain part of the Test set-up, the selectors are hoping the inclusion of 20-year-old right-armer Ubaid, who has claimed 72 first-class wickets in 16 matches since making his debut in October 2024, can address the pace concerns.

"We are concerned with the pace of our fast bowlers," Aaqib Javed, who is both a selector and the director of high performance, said. "It is unacceptable that their speeds drop to 126kph on the second or third day of a Test, which was the case in Bangladesh. We have brought in Ubaid Shah for that purpose and we have made these changes on the basis of evidence, which included the use of speed guns, that we gathered over the recent camp.

"We feel we need pace for the next two series and these bowlers, who have been selected for the next five Tests, also have to cement their places with performances. This (selection) is about the conditions."

That Pakistan were looking to move on from Shaheen and Noman was evident when neither was named in a list of 22 players invited to a red-ball camp at the NCA last month. Shaheen has been a shadow of the bowler he was in the longer format since returning from a knee injury in 2023. He was dropped for the Sylhet Test after taking five wickets for 167 runs across two innings in Bangladesh's 104-run win in Dhaka. Since his return to Test cricket in Galle, he has picked up only 27 wickets in 16 innings at an average of 40.11 and strike rate of 67.6.

"Shaheen is an excellent bowler but at times you have to pick which format you want to play," Aaqib said. "It is for this reason that we recently introduced the structure of track-based format-wise central contracts."

Like Shaheen, Noman was also dropped for the second Test in Sylhet after taking four wickets for 156 runs across two innings. He has been replaced by 33-year-old Usman, who has 192 first-class wickets at an average of 28.81. He finished the most recent Quaid-e-Azam Trophy as the leading wicket-taker, claiming 48 wickets at an average of 21.10, with six five-wicket hauls in eight matches for Multan. He also picked up 25 wickets in the President's Trophy, a first-class tournament for departmental teams; six of those wickets came in PTV's remarkable defence of 40 against SNGPL at the National Stadium in Karachi.

Shakeel, who endured an abysmal outing in Bangladesh with the scores of 0, 15, 8, and 6, has been replaced by right-hand middle-order batter Zafar. The 26-year-old from Sargodha has scored 2278 runs in the format at an impressive average of 42.98, including seven centuries.

"We feel we need pace for the next two series and these bowlers, who have been selected for the next five Tests, also have to cement their places with performances. This (selection) is about the conditions." Aaqib Javed, Pakistan selector and the director of high performance

"The onus for executing the plans on the field falls on the players," Aaqib said. "We have not made many changes to the batting and now it will depend on them how they will perform in the next series. We have also introduced some new talent in the batting department recently with the inclusion of Azan Awais and Abdullah Fazal, but you cannot be satisfied with how the affairs are after losing to Bangladesh on the grassy surfaces at home and abroad. These players have put in hard yards in the NCA camp and I am excited for them that they perform in the next two series."

Prior to the squad announcement, there had been rumours of Salman Ali Agha, the current T20I captain, being offered the Test captaincy. But Aaqib maintained that the selection committee had put forward only Babar as a replacement for Masood. Babar had last captained Pakistan in Tests during their 2-0 series sweep in Sri Lanka in 2023.

Misbah-ul-Haq - the former Pakistan captain and head coach, who is now a member of the selection committee - said the need for a change in leadership stemmed from the inconsistency of results during Masood's tenure. Pakistan lost 12 of the 16 Tests under him.

"Unfortunately, the performances of the team have not been up to the mark and the captain has to take responsibility for that," Misbah said. "It is because of this reason that we are seeing these changes. Consistency is very important in decision-making, but it also demands consistent results. We also have to look at how someone has performed as a player or a captain when opportunities have been provided. The board and the selection committee don't want regular changes, but sometimes the results are such that they make them necessary. Hopefully, Babar will perform himself and the team will do better under him."

Pakistan's first Test against West Indies will begin on July 25 at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba, while the second will be played at Queen's Park Oval from August 2 to 6. Their three Tests in England are scheduled for Headingley (August 19-23), Lord's (August 27-31), and Edgbaston (September 9-13).

Pakistan squad for Tests in the West Indies and England

Babar Azam (capt), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Fazal, Ali Usman, Azan Awais, Imam ul Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Awais Zafar, Mohammad Ghazi Ghouri, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Shan Masood, Ubaid Shah.

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