Pakistan have called up 17-year-old Mohammad Asghar to the Test squad as back-up for lead spinner Yasir Shah. The 30-year-old Yasir, missed the ongoing tour game at Cairns due to a back injury. Yasir picked up the the injury before the game against a Cricket Australia XI side on Tuesday (December 6) and was advised rest for two days by the team doctor.
A similar back spasm suffered ahead of the series against England in UAE forced Yasir to miss the first Test in Abu Dhabi. The leg spinner also missed a boot camp ahead of Pakistan’s tour of England earlier this year and understandably the team management wish to take no chances ahead of the crucial Australia series despite no immediate danger of the ninth-ranked Test bowler missing the series opener at the Gabba.
Left-arm spinner Asghar shot to limelight playing for Shahid Afridi’s Peshawar Zalmi in the inaugural Pakistan Super League 2016. He finished as the team’s second-highest wicket-taker (11), behind Wahab Riaz (15) and was also the team’s most economical bowler in the tournament. Asghar also returned 13 wickets across two first class games for Paksitan A against Zimbabwe A in October.
He was originally expected to be named in the original squad for the Australia series before the selectors decided to retain the squad that lost the two-match series in New Zealand. Asghar cut short his Bangladesh Premier League commitment to play first class cricket in anticipation of a Test call-up.
Besides Asghar, Pakistan also have the left-arm spin services of Mohammad Nawaz to call upon if Yasir does miss the first Test. Misbah-ul-Haq’s sideis scheduled to play three Tests against Australia, starting with the day-night game in Brisbane, starting December 15.
Pakistan Test Squad
Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Azhar Ali, Sami Aslam, Sharjeel Khan, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Mohammad Rizwan, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Sohail Khan, Imran Khan, Mohammad Asghar
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