Several senior players including Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Mohammad Rizwan might be rested for Pakistan’s Test series against Bangladesh at home. Pakistan will host Bangladesh for a two-match Test series in August this year, as a part of the 2023-2025 World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. The Men in Green, one-time T20 World Champions crashed out of the 2024 edition after a below-par show under the captaincy of Babar Azam.
According to the PTI, the Pakistan Cricket Board is in direct contact with Test captain Shaan Masood and newly-appointed red-ball head coach Jasin Gillespie to pick the squad for the Bangladesh series. Masood is currently in England, captaining county team Yorkshire. Masodd will be on experts’ radars for the WTC cycle as Pakistan is sitting fifth in the WTC points table after facing a clean sweep against Australia earlier this year.
Babar, Shaheen, Rizwan and other senior players likely to be rested: Reports
According to PTI, several senior players including Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan might be rested for the upcoming series. A source told PTI, “One of the proposals being considered is giving rest to some senior players namely Babar, Shaheen, Rizwan, etc and instead trying out those players who are uncapped or have just played a few internationals for Pakistan.”
He added, “But, no final decision has been taken because in the end Masood and Gillespie will make the final call on the team selection, as in next few weeks the number of national selectors could also be reduced and the PCB might revert back to the old system of selection process.”