Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali Among Big Names Omitted From Pakistan Test Team

Ace Pakistan pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi and Hasan Ali were snubbed from the Test squad that would take on the West Indies, even as ace batter Babar Azam was reinstated as captain with Shan Masood being sacked. Star spinner Nauman Ali and Saud Shakeel have also been dropped.

Pakistan selector Aaqib Javed said while announcing the team on Sunday that Shakeel had been left out of the West Indies series because of fitness concerns, but expressed hope that he would recover in time for the tour of England.

Star pacer Mohammad Ali and all-rounder Aamir Jamal have been recalled to Pakistan’s 16-man team, while pacer Ubaid Shah, the youngest of the Shah brothers, alongside Naseem Shah and Hunain Shah, has earned his maiden call-up.

Left-arm spinner Ali Usman,

the leading wicket-taker in the 2026-27 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and Mohammad Awais Zafar have also received their first national team call-ups.

Shaheen’s last Test outing was against Bangladesh in the first Test of the two-match series, where he picked up three wickets in the first innings and two more in the second.

The first innings scalps included a crucial wicket of a set Mushfiqur Rahim and in the second, he dismissed half-centurion Mominul Haque. Only Mohammad Abbas picked more wickets than Shaheen in that Test, but strangely, he was dropped from the second, replaced by Khurram Shahzad.

What might have prompted the selectors to continue with Shahzad could have been his eight-wicket haul in the second Test, but Shaheen’s snub from the squad was unforeseen.

Pakistan squad for Tests in the West Indies and England

Babar Azam (c), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Fazal, Ali Usman, Azan Awais, Imam ul Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Awais Zafar, Mohammad Ghazi Ghouri, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Shan Masood, Ubaid Shah