Pakistan reveal lineup for second Multan Test against England

LAHORE: Pakistani on Monday revealed their playing XI for the second Test against England starting on Tuesday at the Multan Cricket Stadium.

Batsman Kamran Ghulam will make his debut after being included in the line-up following Babar Azam’s exclusion from the series.

Meanwhile, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan and Zahid Mehmood will be part of the second Test as Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Sarfaraz Ahmed have been rested while Abrar Ahmad is unavailable due to health issues.

Today’s announcement comes a day after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) unveiled a 16-member squad in which Babar, Shaheen and Naseem were “rested” along with batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed, who was also released by the board .

The Green Shirts had suffered a rather embarrassing defeat by an innings and 47 runs at the hands of the visitors.

Defending its decision to drop the top players, the PCB said the move was aimed at allowing the cricketers to rest a bit so that they can come back again.

The decision was taken in the best interest of Pakistan cricket, a board spokesperson said.

He noted that selecting the squad for the upcoming Tests against England has been a difficult task for the selectors and stressed that the board had to carefully consider the form of the current players, the urgency of recovery in the series and the demanding Pakistan international schedule 2024-25. .

The three-match series is part of the 2023-25 ​​ICC World Test Championship.

The second Test will be played at the Multan Cricket Stadium, just like the first match, while the third and final match of the series will begin at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on October 24.

Playing XI

Shan Masood (c), Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Zahid Mehmood.