Last Update on: February 10th, 2022 at 07:13 pm
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Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday announced a 16-member squad for the upcoming Test series against Australia.
The Pakistan national board also added five reserved players for the three-Test matches against Australia at home. Yasir Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah and Kamran Ghulam are the reserved players.
Cliffe Deacon complained to Ramiz Raja about Mohammad Abbas’s lack of training
Abbas and Yasir both played their last Test match against West Indies last year in August.
According to a report by news agency PTI, a source revealed that Cliffe Deacon, the national team’s physiotherapist, lodged a complaint with PCB chairman Ramiz Raja regarding Abbas’ approach towards his training and practice.
“Apparently Deacon, who has be8en with the Pakistan team for a while now, told Ramiz he was not happy with Abbas’s approach to his training and bowling in the nets,” the source said, as reported by news agency PTI.
“The board then spoke to Abbas and he assured them that he would soon improve his pace and would also give full time to the fitness schedule and requirements of the team.
“Abbas’s pace has dropped to around 123-125kmph which is not good enough for a new ball bowler in Test cricket,” the source added.
Mohammad Abbas and Yasir Shah asked to work hard on their fitness
Yasir Shah, who has 235 Test scalps from 46 matches, had similar complaints against him regarding his fitness.
“Yasir has also been struggling with his fitness and it has affected his bowling. As a result, both he and Abbas have been told to work extra hard on improving their fitness during training in Lahore for the Australia series,” the source mentioned.
Pakistan will take on the Australian cricket team, which will visit their country after 24 years, in the first of the three Tests in Rawalpindi on March 4.
Pakistan Test squad against Australia: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan, Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Zahid Mahmood.
Reserved players: Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Yasir Shah.