Ban vs Pak – Sarfaraz Ahmed is the Pakistan head coach with Asad Shafiq and Umar Gul also among support staff

There are five changes in the squad from Pakistan’s last Test assignment, a two-match series against South Africa at home, as Abdullah Shafique, Asif Ali, Abrar Ahmed, Kamran Ghulam and Rohail Nazir have all been dropped. Mohammad Abbas has earned a recall to the side, which will be led by Shan Masood.

The four uncapped players have been in good form in domestic first-class cricket. Fazal was the leading run-scorer in the recent President’s Trophy, where he made 622 runs in seven matches at an average of 51.83. The opening batter’s highest score was 182; he made two centuries and as many half-centuries.

Fazal was followed on the table by wicketkeeper-batter Ghori, who made 531 runs at 48.27 with the same number of centuries as Fazal. Ghori recently made his international debut during Pakistan’s ODI tour of Bangladesh.

Awais has been in prime form over the last two first-class seasons. He has scored 2673 runs – averaging 48.6 – and hit ten centuries across the last two seasons of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and President’s Trophy. The opening batter was the leading run-scorer with 844 runs from eight matches in the 2024-25 edition of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

Fast-bowling allrounder Butt’s four wickets played a pivotal role in PTV’s record defence of 40 against SNGPL in January 2026. He finished that season with 32 wickets – the most for his side – at 19.21 and scored 206 runs in seven matches.

This will be Sarfaraz’s first coaching assignment with a senior Pakistan side. The former Pakistan captain, who famously led them to the Champions Trophy triumph in 2017, worked as a coach/mentor with the Under-19s at the recent Asia Cup, which they went on to win with victory over India in the final, and at the last World Cup. He then served in the same role with Pakistan Shaheens for their series against England Lions in the UAE, which was cut short because of the West Asia crisis.

Sarfaraz will be joined by his former Pakistan team-mates Asad Shafiq and Umar Gul as batting and bowling coach respectively. While Shafiq, who is a member of both the men’s and women’s selection panels, has never been in a coaching role before, Gul has previously worked in the capacity with the Pakistan men’s white-ball sides.

Abbas, who has been involved in the ongoing County Championship with Derbyshire, returns to Pakistan’s Test squad after missing two home series, against West Indies and South Africa. He last played for Pakistan in the January 2025 Cape Town Test on the tour of South Africa. Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali and Khurram Shahzad are the other fast bowlers in the squad.

The rest of the squad wears a familiar look. Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Agha, Saud Shakeel and Imam ul Haq, who returned to Tests in the last series, make up the batting department, while Noman Ali and Sajid Khan are the two main spinners.

The two Tests against South Africa at home in October last year marked Shafique’s return to Test cricket after almost exactly one year. He didn’t do enough in the estimation of the selectors, returning 41, 2, 6 and 57. Asif Afridi played only the Rawalpindi Test, the second of the series, and picked up 6 for 79, all in the 34.3 overs he bowled in the first innings in what was his debut Test. Abrar and Ghulam did not play in that series, as was the case with Nazir, who remains uncapped at the Test level.

The first Test in Bangladesh will be played in Dhaka from May 8, and the second in Sylhet from May 16. The series is Pakistan’s second assignment of the current ICC World Test Championship cycle.

Pakistan squad for Test series in Bangladesh

Shan Masood (capt), Abdullah Fazal, Amad Butt, Azan Awais, Babar Azam, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wk), Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi

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