Friday 24 / January / 2025
Multan : Ahead of the second Test against West Indies at Multan, Pakistan head coach Aaqib Javed spoke on pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi's absence from Tests, saying that he was not selected because of lack of participation in domestic four-day matches building up to the series.
Pakistan, boosted by the spin duo of Sajid Khan and Noman Ali, will be aiming to end their disappointing ICC World Test Championship (WTC) on a high with a series win against West Indies at home. Already 1-0 up in the two-match series after an easy 127-run win within three days at Multan in the first Test, Pakistan is heading into the match with their hopes and confidence high.
Speaking as quoted by Wisden, Aaqib spoke on Shaheen, who last featured in the first Test against Multan, which Pakistan lost by an innings and 47 runs after conceding 823 runs to England in the first innings. Since then, he did not feature in the two-match Test series against South Africa and the ongoing West Indies series, despite being a crucial part of the team's all-format set-up.
In a pre-match presser as quoted by Wisden, Aaqib said, "See, you are saying he Shaheen did not play in Cape Town. The thing is, there are two formats - one-dayers and Test cricket. What is happening is that there is too much cricket and if you are playing all three formats, then, in one series, you are bowling in Tests, where you need to bowl 25-30 overs, and then for three months, you are not playing any four-day games, and then you again bowl in Test cricket. This is the very reason why the energy level of the fast bowlers' lowers when you need to bowl to the tail-enders after sending down 20-25 overs in a day.
"If Shaheen played in Cape Town, Mohammad Abbas would not have played. Abbas was playing after three years, and because of him, the match reached an interesting end. All bowlers need to target this. If they can play leagues before Test matches, they also need to play four-day cricket to ensure their stamina is of that level."
Pakistan lost both of their Test matches to South Africa, first by two wickets at Centurion and then by 10 wickets in the second Test, giving Proteas an easy qualification to the WTC 2023-25 final. The first Test against West Indies saw Pakistan return back to winning ways in a mixed WTC cycle, which saw them experience the lows of a whitewash series loss to Bangladesh at home to the highs of a series win against England at home after a disastrous performance in the first Test. The inclusion of spinners Noman and Sajid has done wonders for the team.
Squads:
Pakistan Squad: Shan Masood(c), Muhammad Hurraira, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan(w), Salman Agha, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Khurram Shahzad, Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Rohail Nazir, Kashif Ali
West Indies Squad: Kraigg Brathwaite(c), Mikyle Louis, Keacy Carty, Kavem Hodge, Alick Athanaze, Justin Greaves, Tevin Imlach(w), Kevin Sinclair, Gudakesh Motie, Jomel Warrican, Jayden Seales, Joshua Da Silva, Amir Jangoo, Anderson Phillip, Kemar Roach.
