Pakistan has promoted Saud Shakeel to the role of vice-captain as PCB announced the 17-player squad for their 2-match Test series against Bangladesh, which will be taking place in the later phase of this month. Shakeel will be taking over from Shaheen Afridi. Selectors will be telling the star to have his workload managed for the upcoming months from now on till April next year, as per ICC, the team is already scheduled to play 9 Tests, 14 T20Is, and at least 17 ODIs.
The promotion of Shakeel to partner their skipper Shan Masood in leading the team is within the biggest shocks from Pakistan’s announcements, as they made a new 17-player squad for the first Test series under head coach Jason Gillespie.
Opener Imam-ul-Haq has dropped completely out of the squad. Hasan Ali and Mohammad Wasim Jr. are not considered due to them facing injuries. Fheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Noman Ali and Sajid Khan are all noticeably absent for the first squad.
Pakistan has recalled pacer duo Naseem Shah and Mohammad Ali following a long absence from Test cricket Mohammad Huraira. Kamran Ghulam also calls in for a potential chance of debut at test cricket.
In total, 13 out of 17 players who were selected were involve in recent Test series of Pakistan in Australia during the new year.
The series is set to take place in Rawalpindi on August 21, with the second testscheduled to be in Karachi on August 30.
