Fast bowler Naseem Shah has been included in Pakistan’s 17-man squad for the two-Test match series against Bangladesh, which is scheduled to start later this month. With this selection, the 21-year-old, who last played a test in Sri Lanka 13 months ago, returns to the longest format.

Naseem’s recall after his recent injury troubles is one of two key decisions taken by Pakistan Cricket Board’s national selectors, who have also named Saud Shakeel as vice-captain. To manage the main left-arm pacer Shaheen’s workload in the upcoming year, in which Pakistan would play nine Tests, fourteen Twenty20 Internationals, and at least seventeen One-Day Internationals, the selectors made this “strategic decision” to elevate Shakeel to a leadership role and replace Shaheen Afridi.

Aamer Jamal’s participation, who was a standout performer during Pakistan’s Test tour of Australia earlier this year, is dependent upon the fast bowler proving his fitness. Of the team that went on for a tour to Australia, up to thirteen players still hold their positions. Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Imam-ul-Haq, Noman Ali, and Sajid Khan are a few of the people who were left out of the prior assignment.

As a reward for their stellar performances in domestic cricket, the selectors instead chose to give call-ups to fast bowler Muhammad Ali, batsman Mohammad Hurraira, and batter Kamran Ghulam. In eleven first-class matches during the 2023–24 season, Ghulam scored 1,025 runs. He was included in the team for the 2022–2023 home series against New Zealand, although he was not involved in the series that ended in a draw.

After making his only appearance in the first two Test matches against England in 2022, fast bowler Muhammad Ali has been called back to the side. In the 2022–2023 season, he claimed 24 wickets in six first-class matches. In the 2023–2024 season, he claimed 47 wickets in 14 first-class matches. Huraira has been in exceptional form in the domestic circuit. He scored a double century against Bangladesh ‘A’ in Darwin last month.

In the 2022-23 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, he was the only batter to breach the 1000-run mark. The 22-year-old followed that up by aggregating 961 runs in the 2023-24 first-class season. He was picked for last year’s tour of Sri Lanka but didn’t feature in the XI.

Pakistan squad for Bangladesh Tests: Shan Masood (c), Saud Shakeel (vc), Aamer Jamal (subject to Fitness), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Shaheen Shah Afridi