Iftikhar ahmad, Pakistani journalist

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday announced the 29-member squad for the upcoming England tour in August-September which includes two uncapped players Haider Ali and Kashif Bhatti.Ali has played for the Pakistan U19 team and had an outstanding 2019-20 season, following which he earned an emerging contract for the 2020-21 season.He was Pakistan U19's second most successful batsman with 317 runs against South Africa U19 in June, fifth leading run-getter with 218 runs in the ACC Emerging Teams Cup in Bangladesh, aggregated 645 runs - including a century in the final - in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, finished as Pakistan's third-best batsman with 107 runs in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2020.He also contributed 239 runs in nine matches at a strike-rate of over 158 for Peshawar Zalmi in the unfinished Pakistan Super League 2020.On the other hand, Kashif Bhatti was in the Test squad against Australia and Sri Lanka but did not play and was also named in the probables for the Rawalpindi Test against Bangladesh."An extended squad, including white-ball specialists, is being sent to England as the players, in accordance with series SOPs in the wake of Covid-19, will remain in England from start to finish," PCB said in a release.Sohail Khan returned to the side whose ninth and last Test for Pakistan was the 2016 Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.In the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2019-20, he took 22 wickets in nine matches, while he grabbed seven wickets in eight PSL 2020 matches for Quetta Gladiators.The selectors have also named four reserves Bilal Asif, Imran Butt, Musa Khan and Mohammad Nawaz as a cover in case any of the players fail pre-tour COVID-19 testing, which will be carried out on June 20 and 25.Fast bowlers Hasan Ali and Mohammad Amir, and middle-order batsman Haris Sohail were not available for selection. Ali is suffering from a back injury, Amir withdrew so that he can be at the birth of his second child in August while Sohail took the option of pulling out of the tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Pakistan's combined squad for three Tests and three T20Is against England is as follows:Openers - Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq and Shan Masood.Middle-order batsmen - Azhar Ali (captain), Babar Azam (Test vice-captain and T20I captain), Asad Shafiq, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmad, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, and Shoaib Malik.Wicketkeepers - Mohammad Rizwan and Sarfaraz Ahmed.Fast bowlers - Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Imran Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sohail Khan, Usman Shinwari and Wahab Riaz.Spinners - Imad Wasim, Kashif Bhatti, Shadab Khan and Yasir Shah.Commenting on the squad, chief selector and head coach Misbah-ul-Haq said: "The selectors have picked a squad which gives us the best chance of success in England. It was a challenging process as the players have not played for an extended period of time, but nevertheless, with the month that we will have in England and the intense training we will undergo, we are confident we will get the players up to the mark to be ready for the three Tests.""But the main focus of the selectors has been red-ball cricket, which we will play for nearly two months with the T20Is to be played at the backend of the ICC World Test Championship fixtures," he added.( With inputs from ANI )

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