Pakistan captain Babar Azam and opener Imam Ul Haq have been ruled out of the 1st Test against New Zealand which begins from December 26. Both the players are yet to recover from their thumb injuries.
In skipper Azam’s absence, Mohammad Rizwan will be leading the side.
The head coach Misbah Ul Haq said that he is confident that other players will rise to the occasion.
“Although it will be nearly two weeks to Babar’s injury when the first Test starts, it will be hard on him and the team to play him without any net sessions, I remain confident and optimistic that other players will rise to the occasion in Mount Maunganui and use the opportunity to rise to the occasion and put the disappointment of the T20I series behind them,” he said in a statement.
Pakistan recently announced the squad for the Test series.
Here is the squad-
Mohammad Rizwan (capt), Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Imran Butt, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan, Yasir Shah
All eyes will be on Imran Butt who was the leading run-scorer in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2019/20. He had 934 runs.
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