Pakistan has announced the 18-member squad for the three-Test series against England next month.
Fast bowler Shaheen Afridi will be ruled out of the series after undergoing appendicitis surgery over the weekend.
Fawad Alam, Yasir Shah and Hasan Ali have been left out of the squad after being part of the tour of Sri Lanka in July this year.
Leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed and fast bowler Muhammad Ali have received their first Test call-ups.
Ahmed took 43 wickets at an average of 21.95 in the domestic tournament and Ali took 56 wickets in the last two domestic seasons.
The other two arrivals are the uncapped pair of Mohammad Wasim and Zahid Mahmood, part of the squad for the three Test matches against Australia in March.
Afridi is also recovering from a knee injury suffered during Pakistan’s loss to England in the T20 World Cup final earlier this month.
The first Test in Rawalpindi will be England’s first Test in Pakistan in 17 years and all three Tests are part of the ICC World Test Championship.
Squad
Babar Azam (c), Muhammad Rizwan, Imamul Haq, Abdullah Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Abrar Ahmed, Muhammad Ali, Shan Masood, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Muhammad Nawaz, Nouman Ali, Saud Shakeel, Zahid Mahmood, Muhammad Wasim, Naseem Shah. , Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed.
