PAK vs ENG 2nd Test Squad: Babar, Shaheen, & Naseem's Position Takes A Hit

Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, and Sarfaraz Ahmed have been dropped from the remaining two PAK vs ENG test matches. This decision came soon after the hosts suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of England on their home ground in the 1st test.

The PAK vs ENG test series got underway from the 7th October. In what was supposed to be a must win match for the Men in Green, a humiliating defeat was what they managed to take back with them.

The hosts began the match in a relatively better manner and scored 556 runs in their 1st innings. On the other hand, the tourists didn’t slow down for one bit and scored a massive total of 823 in their 1st innings.

Everyone expected the team to rise up to the occasion and play an equally good if not better innings as England, but, there’s just so much that this team can do.

What followed was a disastrous crumbling of the entire team with a meager total of 220 runs and England winning the match with an innings and 47 runs.

Understandably, such a bad performance triggered investigations within the cricket board instantly.

A new selection committee joined their heads to figure out what went wrong and how to avoid that in the upcoming England vs Pakistan test matches.

The biggest decision to come forward was the exclusion of former skipper Babar Azam and star bowlers Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah from the PAK vs ENG 2nd test squad. 

"Taking into consideration the current form and fitness of key players and looking ahead to Pakistan’s future assignments in the 2024-25 international cricket season, the selectors have decided to give rest to Babar Azam, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Shaheen Shah Afridi," a statement released by the cricket governing body read.

Contrary to the selection committee’s decision, test skipper Shan Masood kept backing Babar Azam and called him “Pakistan’s best batter.”

Moreover, the skipper emphasized that his ace players should be given more time and his sentiment was supported by head coach Jason Gillespie as well.

But the selection committee did what they had to do and backed their decision by saying that Babar needed to rest as his performance has seen a severe downfall with him not scoring a single test half-century since December 2022.

The newly configured selection panel comprises Aaqib Javed, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, former ICC umpire Aleem Dar, analyst Hassan Cheema and the captain and head coach of the format for which the squad is being selected.

Alongwith Babar, Shaheen, and Naseem, former skipper and wicket-keeper batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed has also been dropped from the Pakistan vs England squad.

It is stated that the four players have been replaced by Haseebullah, Mehran Mumtaz, fast bowler Mohammad Ali, off-spinner Sajid Khan and all uncapped Kamran Ghulam.

The ENG vs PAK 2nd test match will be played from 15th-19th October at the Multan Cricket Stadium. 

PAK vs ENG 2nd test squad

The newly formed selection committee has come up with the following squad:

Pakistan squad: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Haseebullah (wicket-keeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mehran Mumtaz, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha and Zahid Mehmood.