New Delhi: The National Selection Committee headed by Inzamam ul Haq after consultation with Captain Sarfraz Ahmed and Head Coach Mickey Arthur on Sunday announced the 16-member Test squad for the series against Ireland and England scheduled to take place in May.
A total of nine batsmen have been included in the squad to counter the difficult playing position in England.
Batsmen Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Usman Salahuddin and Saad Ali have received maiden Test call-ups. Shan Masood, the leading run-scorer in the recently concluded Regional One-Day Cup has been ruled out because of knee injury while left-arm seamer Wahab Riaz could not make into the squad.
The 16-member squad is expected to depart at the end of this month.
Pakistan will begin their campaign with a four-day warm-up match against county side Kent before taking on Ireland in a one-off test match on May 11: the first-ever played by the Irish.
The team will then return to England for a two-test series on May 24 and June 1, followed by two twenty20 internationals with Scotland on June 12 and 13 respectively.
Squad: Sarfraz Ahmed (capt &wk), Azhar Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Sami Aslam, Haris Sohail, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Saad Ali, Asad Shafiq, Usman Salahuddin, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Abbas, Hasan Ali,Rahat Ali, Faheem Ashraf