Pakistan spinner Abrar Ahmed and middle-order Kamran Ghulam have joined the national squad ahead of the second Test against Bangladesh, starting on 30 August in Rawalpindi. Both players were released from the Test squad before the start of the first Test match and featured for Pakistan Shaheens in a four-day game against Bangladesh ‘A’ at the Islamabad Club from 20 to 23 August. Abrar took four wickets, while Kamran scored 34 runs in the drawn four-day game in Islamabad. Meanwhile, pace bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi has also joined the squad after returning from home. Shaheen went home after the conclusion of the first Test to meet his newborn baby boy. Meanwhile, all-rounder Aamir Jamal, who had been released from the squad to work on his fitness at the NCA, has been recalled. Aamir’s participation in the second Test will remain subject to fitness clearance.

Pakistan would be looking to bounce back in the second Test after suffering the first-ever defeat against Bangladesh in the opening Test of the two-match series. Following the defeat, several strategies came under question; such as going with an all-pace attack, declaration and batting failure in the second innings. Pakistan, after being put into bat first, accumulated 448/6 and declared their first innings in the dying minutes of the second day. Bangladesh, in response, piled up a mammoth total of 565, courtesy of Mushfiqur Rahim’s marathon 191-run knock, before bundling out in the third session of the fourth day. The first Test was assumed to be heading towards a draw but Pakistan’s batting lineup faltered against Bangladesh’s spinners on the final day and could score 146, setting the visitors a meagre 30-run target.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan