Abrar Ahmed, Kamran Ghulam to play second test

• The second test will be held from August 30 to September 3.
• Shaheen Afridi also made a comeback to the Test side on Tuesday.
• Aamir Jamal has also been recalled for 2nd Test.

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed and Kamran Ghulam have been included in the national Test squad ahead of the second Test match against Bangladesh, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement on Wednesday.

The second Test between the two sides is scheduled to be played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium from August 30 to September 3.

Abrar and Kamran were released from the Test squad before the start of the first Test match and appeared for Pakistan Shaheens in a four-day game against Bangladesh ‘A’ at the Islamabad Club.

Pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi — who was also released from the team after the conclusion of the first Test — rejoined the Test side on Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Aamir Jamal, who had been released from the team to work on his fitness at the NCA, was also recalled. His participation in the second Test will continue to be subject to fitness clearance.

Pakistan played four pacers in the first Test – Shaheen, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ali and Naseem Shah – as the Shan Masood-led unit wanted to go with a pace attack, but things did not go their way as they were dominated by their batting Bangladesh XI and lost the game by 10 wickets.

According to the sources, the team management along with the senior players were not happy with the way the pacers performed in the first Test.

It is believed in the dressing room that the pacers could not exploit the grass on the pitch and their declining pace also became a matter of discussion.

During the first Test, Naseem took three wickets while Shaheen, Shahzad and Ali managed to take two wickets each but it was not enough as Bangladesh scored plenty of runs during their first innings.

Chasing the 30-run target after bowling Pakistan out for 148 runs during their second innings, the visitors had no trouble as Zakir Hasan (15) and Shadman Islam (9) guided the visitors to the target in just 6.3 overs over

Meanwhile, in their first innings, Bangladesh scored 565 before being all out with the experienced Mushfiqur Rahim scoring 191 runs.

Pakistan team

Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal (subject to fitness), Abrar Ahmed, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket – keeper), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicket-keeper) and Shaheen Shah Afridi.