Uncapped Azam called up to T20 squad; Abbas, Naseem return for Test duty.

LAHORE -- While seasoned campaigner Haris Sohail and all-rounder Imad Wasim along with uncapped Azam Khan made their places in the national Twenty20 squad, pacers Mohammad Abbas and Naseem Shah returned to the Test side as chief selector Mohammad Wasim announced on Friday squads for all formats for Pakistan's back-to-back tours of England and West Indies, starting from July 25.

However, there was no place for all-rounder Shoaib Malik whose international career seems very close to an end while veteran pacer Wahab Riaz was also not considered by the selectors.

The 22-year-old Azam, the son of former Pakistan captain Moin Khan and nephew of PCB's Director National High Performance Centre Nadeem Khan, also got a chance. However, the aggressive middle-order batsman will have to prove himself a potential candidate for a place in the national T20 team, keeping in mind this year's ICC T20 World Cup being staged in October-November.

On the England tour, Pakistan will play three One-day Internationals and as many Twenty20 Internationals from July 8 to 20 before leaving for West Indies on July 21 to play five T20 Internationals and two Test matches there.

Leg-spinner Yasir Shah's inclusion in the Test team is subject to fitness as the wrist spinner is yet to fully recover from the knee injury that sidelined him from the Zimbabwe Tests. The selectors have retained leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood along with left-arm spinner Nauman Ali and off-spinner Sajid Khan for the Jamaica Tests, besides recalling Abbas and Nasim. Uncapped Saud Shakeel has also reclaimed his spot after missing South Africa ODIs due to an injury.

Salman Ali Agha, who has lost his Test spot, has been called up for ODIs.

Left-handed opener Fakhar Zaman has maintained his place in the original squad after being drafted as an additional player for Zimbabwe T20s following a stellar performance in South Africa.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore on Friday, the chief selector termed Azam's fitness level was good. Wasim reiterated his policy of selecting players not only on fitness level but also keeping in mind their skill level and other related aspects.

A trainer at the National High Performance Centre worked hard on Azam's fitness level and it was good, the chief selector said.

It may be mentioned here that Wasim had selected dashing opener Sharjeel Khan for the last tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe for which the former faced lot of criticism over the player's fitness status. Sharjeel...