On the other hand, with Pakistan going through a rarity of combined spin bowling with their frontline spinner Abrar Ahmed ending up in hospital during the first Test, the verdict of double indisposition in all other spin is a notable turnaround. . Just two months earlier, in Rawalpindi, against Bangladesh, Pakistan had launched a controversial attack, aiming at least in part at the kind of launches they had called for at home.
With Pakistan’s first season yet to begin, none of the three incoming spinners have such modern red-ball experience that would be useful with a challenge as ambitious as this England team. Noman finished playing a first-class game in October 2023, the present Mahmood and Sajid have not played one since January of this date.
If captain Shan Masood (or Mohammad Rizwan) does not turn his arm in Multan, it will be the first time Pakistan will have only one pace bowling option in a men’s Test.
ESPNcricinfo has learned that there was a lively debate among some members of the diversity committee over the final composition of the team, which had not been announced when Professor Azhar Mahmood came out for the pre-match press conference. He even said that the cause of the delay in the team’s announcement was the discussion on the team’s name “11”; The selectors had felt that they would field one more pace bowler. In the end, though the assurance that the pitch would pass muster proved to give Pakistan’s bowling assault a very different look to the one that began season 3 Checks before it.
Pakistan XI for second test vs England
Abdullah Shafique, Saim Ayub, Shan Masood (captain), Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Aamer Jamal, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Zahid Mehmood.
