Shahnawaz Dahani and Mir Hamza added to Pakistan's Test squad for New Zealand series to bolster pace battery

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Saturday, December 24 appointed former skipper Shahid Afridi as the interim chair of the Men’s National Selection Committee. Now, the former all-rounder has made some new additions immediately (after taking up his responsibility) to the Test squad for the two-match series against New Zealand starting Monday, December 26.

The notable additions include emerging pace sensation Shanawaz Dahani and left-arm pacer Mir Hamza. While Dahani is yet to make his Test debut, Hamza made a solitary Test appearance against Australia in October 2018.

The 30-year-old Hamza has outstanding first-class stats which have finally bore fruit.

We had a good discussion on the squad and agreed we needed to strengthen our bowling department: Shahid Afridi

“We had a good discussion on the squad and agreed we needed to strengthen our bowling department to give ourselves the best chance of taking 20 wickets in a match," Afridi said as quoted by ICC's official website.

"Taking into consideration recent form and performances, we have added fast bowlers Mir Hamza and Shahnawaz Dahani, and off-spinner Sajid Khan,” he added.

"I am confident the inclusion of three additional bowling resources will give Babar Azam more options to field the best available squad for the first Test,” Afridi further added.

With the inclusion of these strike bowlers, Pakistan seem to have sorted out some of their issues heading into the home Test series against New Zealand. Both matches and the subsequent three-match ODI series will be played at the National Bank Arena in Karachi.

The Multan leg of the bilateral series has been rescheduled in Karachi due to the inclement weather conditions predicted in the city.

The Babar Azam-led side will be under a tremendous amount of pressure having lost two successive home Test series this year. They would be heading into the upcoming red-ball fixtures on the back of a humiliating 0-3 whitewash against England recently.

With Pakistan already out of the WTC final race, they would be hoping to salvage pride by avoiding another home series defeat.