Five changes have been made in the Pakistan Shaheens’ line-up for a 50-over contest against Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) at Aitchison College on 16 February after HBL PSL franchises called-up players for the preparations in the lead up to the tournament.

Ehsan Adil, Imran Butt, Mohammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Asghar and Sajid Khan will replace Akif Javed, Haider Ali, Mohammad Mohsin, Saif Badar and Umar Khan respectively in the 12-player squad which will be captained by Saud Shakeel.

The replacements have been made on the basis of performances in the domestic events with an aim of providing exposure and opportunities to top performers of the domestic events.

Pacer Ehsan Adil took 18 wickets in nine first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2019-20 matches at an average of 32.67 for Central Punjab, the eventual winners of the tournament.

With 934 runs in nine matches, 24-year-old Imran Butt was the highest run getter in the same tournament.

Mohammad Irfan Khan, a 17-year-old batsman, has been in the Pakistan U19 set-up since Pakistan’s tour of South Africa in June last year. He donned the national colours in the ACC U19 Asia Cup in September 2019 and during the recently-concluded ICC U19 Cricket World Cup in South Africa. In the domestic circuit, the right-hander made 475 runs in 10 three-day non first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy contests at an average of 47.50.

For their outstanding run with the ball in the first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, 21-year-old Mohammad Asghar (27 wickets in eight matches) and 26-year-old Sajid Khan (25 wickets in six matches) have also been drafted in the 12-member line-up. Asghar and Sajid, the two spinners, were at the fourth and fifth spots in the list of highest wicket-takers that tournament.

Meanwhile, Northern, who play a T20 match against the MCC at the same venue on 17 February, have also made a change in their line-up for similar reasons. Musa Khan, who graduated to the highest level by making his Test debut Down Under in Novermber last year, has been replaced with Munir Riaz, who took 14 wickets in six matches in the National U19 Three-Day Tournament 2019-20.

Updated squads:

Pakistan Shaheens: Saud Shakeel (captain) (Sindh), Ehsan Adil (Central Punjab), Hassan Mohsin (Sindh), Imran Butt (Balochistan), Imran Rafiq (Southern Punjab), Mohammad Irfan Khan (Central Punjab Second XI), Mohammad Asghar (Balochistan), Omair Bin Yousaf (Sindh), Rohail Nazir (wicketkeeper) (Northern), Sajid Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Sameen Gul (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Zeeshan Malik (Northern)

Northern: Rohail Nazir (captain, wicketkeeper), Faizan Riaz (vice-captain), Ali Imran, Haider Ali, Mubashir Khan (Northern U19), Munir Riaz (Northern U19), Nuaman Ali, Sarmad Bhatti, Shahzad Azam, Shiraz Khan (Northern U19), Zaid Alam, Zeeshan Malik.