Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali and Noman Ali have all been dropped from Pakistan’s Test squads for the away tours of the West Indies and England this year, with selectors pointing squarely to pace and red-ball fitness concerns. Babar Azam returns as Test captain for a third stint in the role, replacing Shan Masood after a difficult 2-0 series defeat in Bangladesh earlier this year. The two touring squads share sixteen names between them, with Saud Shakeel added separately for the England leg pending a fitness check.
Selectors Explain Why Three Pacers Were Dropped
Aaqib Javed, Pakistan’s selector and director of high performance, pointed to pace as the issue. He said the team could not accept fast bowlers whose speeds dropped to 126kph by the second or third day of a Test, something that happened repeatedly in Bangladesh.
Javed added that Pakistan need genuine pace for the next two series, and the bowlers selected still have to earn their places. He called Shaheen an excellent bowler but said players sometimes have to choose which format suits them, tying the call to Pakistan’s newer format-specific contracts.
Misbah-ul-Haq said Shaheen and Naseem Shah need more first-class red-ball cricket, noting neither had looked at his best with the red ball in recent outings. He rejected any suggestion the omissions signalled the end of anyone’s career.
Neither Shaheen nor Noman Ali featured on a list of 22 players invited to a recent NCA camp, an early hint of what was coming. Hasan Ali’s case was not addressed individually and sits under the general pace rationale. Naseem Shah is also absent, though not explicitly labelled as dropped in the official announcement.
Pakistan Test Squad Babar Azam Captaincy
Babar Azam takes over for a third time, having last captained Pakistan to a 2-0 win in Sri Lanka in 2023 before stepping down that November. At Sylhet in May, Babar top-scored for Pakistan in the first innings with 68, then added 47 in the fourth-innings chase as part of a 92-run stand with Shan Masood. His scores from the first Test in Dhaka, which Pakistan lost by 104 runs, were not clearly confirmed. The series finished 2-0 to Bangladesh.
His career average is reported differently depending on the figures used. One count lists 4,481 runs from 62 Tests at an average of 43, while another puts the tally closer to 3,734 from 89 matches at 46.68, a figure that appears older. A separate, more recent breakdown shows he averaged just 21.36 across all of 2023 and 2024 combined.
Masood’s Exit Ends A Rocky Reign
Shan Masood keeps his place as a batter but loses the captaincy held since taking over from Babar. His record in the role reads four wins and twelve defeats from sixteen Tests. Aaqib Javed and Misbah-ul-Haq offered near-identical assessments, each noting that while Masood performed well individually, the team did not produce the results needed under his leadership. His form held up, including 21 and 71 at Sylhet, half of that 92-run stand with Babar.
Masood has scored 2,653 runs in 46 Tests at an average of 30. Accounts differ on how his captaincy ended, with some describing it as stepping down and others as a change driven by selectors.
West Indies And England Assignments Loom
Pakistan’s squad for the West Indies leg runs to sixteen players, with Saud Shakeel added for the England Tests only, subject to fitness clearance, taking that squad to seventeen. Mohammad Rizwan continues as wicketkeeper, with uncapped gloveman Muhammad Ghazi Ghori as backup.
The bowling group blends recalls and fresh faces. Mohammad Ali and Aamir Jamal both return after a time out of the side, while uncapped left-arm spinner Ali Usman and pace bowler Ubaid Shah, brother of Naseem and Hunain Shah, add depth. Muhammad Awais Zafar, an uncapped batting allrounder, rounds out the fresh faces named.
Pakistan play two Tests in the West Indies between July 25 and August 6, at the Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Tarouba and then Port of Spain, before a three-Test assignment in England from August 19 to September 13. Whatever follows on the Pakistan Test squad Babar Azam captaincy question will be shaped by these two tours as much as by anything said at the announcement.