Lahore: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday announced the 17-player Test squad for the two-match series against New Zealand.
The PCB confirmed that captain Babar Azam and opener imam-ul-Haq have been ruled out from the first Test against New Zealand starting on December 26.
Babar and Imam had fractured their thumbs last week during a practice session in Queenstown that led the former to miss the Twenty20 International series against Black Caps and the latter to miss the only four-day game of Pakistan Shaheens against New Zealand A.
In Babar’s absence, wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan will lead the Pakistan test team.
Batsman Imran Butt has also been named in the 17-member squad. The Lahore born player represents Balochistan in the domestic four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.
“He [Butt] had topped batting charts in the 2019-20 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy with 934 runs at an average of over 62 with four centuries and three half-centuries,” PCB said.
Pakistan will play two Tests against New Zealand on December 26-30 and January 3-7 in Mount Maunganui and Christchurch.
Squad:
Mohammad Rizwan (captain for 1st Test), Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Imran Butt, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan and Yasir Shah. (Babar Azam and Imam-ul-Haq not available for first Test)
