Shadab earns Test call

Pakistan have announced their Test squad to face the West Indies including impressive young leg-spinner Shadab Khan who recently made his T20I debut and looks set to make his ODI bow in the next few days.

Shadab took ten wickets in the 3-1 T20I series win over the West Indies taking 3 for 7 on debut having earned his place in the group with a fantastic Pakistan Super League campaign.

Former Pakistan legspinner Mushtaq Ahmed believes that Shadab should play in the Test team alongside current leggie Yasir Shah.

Mushtaq told reporters ahead of the squad announcement: “I think the focus of selection committee and all of us is that why can’t two legspinners play in one match?

“If they have different variations and both could become match-winners, then why not? Two legspinners against a western team will have a positive impact, especially in one-day cricket if we have a legspin option in the middle overs who could take wickets.

“Like I started my career with Qadir, then Iqbal Sikander and myself played together in the [1992] World Cup, then Shahid Afridi and Danish Kaneria played together.

“Shadab has good variations, but 50 overs and five-day formats are totally different. I think he has all the variations. He had a lot of communication with Yasir also during the [pre-tour conditioning] camp [last month].

“He’s a good listener and has a good temperament and if he stays with Yasir he will improve more. But it’s too early to predict about Shadab, how he will play in Test matches. Yasir has proved himself over the last two years and he has no match. He [Shadab] could learn from Yasir like I learnt from Qadir bhai and then Danish learnt from me when I was his senior.”

Pakistan squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Ahmed Shehzad, Azhar Ali, Shan Masood, Babar Azam, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed (w), Usman Salahuddin, Yasir Shah, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Asghar, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Abbas.