Due to his recent poor form, Pakistan’s management decided to bench ace bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi for the team’s second Test match against Bangladesh. Afridi will be sidelined for the second Test match, which is scheduled to begin on Friday, August 30, as Bangladesh seeks to win the series in a historic manner against the hosts. After losing the first Test by ten wickets, the management has selected spinners Abrar Ahmed and Mir Hamza for the second Test in an attempt to level the two-match series.
“Shaheen was not present for this game,” stated Test coach Jason Gillespie. We’ve had a nice talk, and he recognizes and understands the reasoning behind it completely. Some feedback has been sent to Shaheen. In order to be as effective as possible with his bowling, he is working on a few things. His collaboration with Azhar Mahmood is excellent. We have a lot of cricket in all formats, and Shaheen will be crucial to that, so we want to see him perform at his peak.”
Shaheen, who came back in the Test lineup for the first time since the Melbourne Test on Boxing Day, was ineffectual all around, taking two wickets in his two innings combined. He finished with figures of 88/2 in the first innings, and since Bangladesh only required 30 runs to win, he did not have to bowl much in the second.
Shaheen’s ability was supported by head coach Jason Gillespie, but given the team’s extreme struggles, Gillespie needed a spinner. In order to serve as the team’s specialty spinner, the management has chosen to include Abrar Ahmed in the lineup.
12-man Pakistani squad for the second Test
Abdullah Shafique, Saim Ayub, Shan Masood (c), Agha Salman, Naseem Shah, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Ali, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Mir Hamza, Kamran Ghulam, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, and Mohammad Rizwan (wk).
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