PAK vs AUS: Mohammad Rizwan Replaces Sarfaraz Ahmed As Pakistan Announces 12-member Squad For Boxing Day Test

Mohammad Rizwan replaced Sarfaraz Ahmed in Pakistan’s 12-man squad for the upcoming second Test against Australia in Melbourne. Pakistan skipper Shan Masood defended the decision to include Mohammad Rizwan over Sarfaraz Ahmed for the Boxing Day Test.

Sarfaraz Ahmed struggled to make an impact during the series opener, in which Pakistan endured a 360-run loss in Perth. Sarfaraz registered scores of 3 runs and 4 runs in the two innings, falling prey to Australian pacer Mitchell Starc on both occasions.

Pakistan is expected to make at least three changes to its lineup for the upcoming encounter. Khurram Shahzad has been ruled out of the series, and all-rounder Faheem Ashraf will be excluded. The visiting team will finalize their team combination on match day.

While there’s a slight chance of an all-seam attack, similar to the previous encounter, Sajid Khan could serve as the specialist spinner in the absence of Noman Ali and Abrar Ahmed. Additionally, injured Khurram Shahzad will be replaced by either Mir Hamza or Hasan Ali.

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We Gave Sarfaraz Ahmed The Benefit – Shan Masood

“I wouldn’t think that that one change would have changed the whole course of the game. The reason to play Sarfaraz was pretty much the same [as the reason to play Aamer Jamal and Khurram Shahzad]. People go back to stats and Rizwan averages very well in SENA,” Masood said.

“Firstly, there’s no competition between the two. They’re equally important to the team. Any competition they have is healthy competition. We know what Rizwan has done but we gave Sarfaraz the benefit because he averaged 56.50 on his last tour here in 2016. Yes, that’s been quite a while but he’s also played red-ball consistently in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in the last few years.”

Mohammad Rizwan Hadn’t Played A Lot Of Red-Ball Cricket – Shan Masood

Shan Masood highlighted Mohammad Rizwan’s recent involvement in white-ball cricket and his absence in red-ball cricket. Masood expressed a preference for both players to feature in the XI.

“Rizwan just came from the World Cup, a lot of white-ball cricket. And he also had a gap in red-ball cricket since Sarfaraz took over from him for the New Zealand series. Sarfaraz had an outstanding performance there and Rizwan hadn’t played a lot of red-ball cricket. So there was a method to it. He’s been there, he played red-ball cricket.”

“Karachi had a very good season where he was the tournament’s MVP, and that allowed us to get a player like Rizwan into shape. If I had it my way, I’d ideally like both to play but that’s not possible. Now we think Rizwan is ready and we can give Saifi that little bit of break to recuperate and come back.”

Australia has opted not to include Scott Boland for the next Test, which is set to commence on Tuesday, December 26. The home team retained the elite trio of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc, along with champion spinner Nathan Lyon.

Pakistan squad: Imam-Ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (c), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali, Mir Hamza, Aamir Jamal, Sajid Khan.