Pakistan Name 14-Member Test Squad for Sri Lanka Series: Three Uncapped Batters Earn Maiden Call-Ups, Babar Azam to Lead

Pakistan have named a new-look 14-member Test squad for the two-match home series against Sri Lanka, handing maiden call-ups to batters Sameer Minhas, Mohammad Taha and Mohammad Suleman, with Babar Azam continuing as captain. The series, part of the ICC World Test Championship, will be played in Rawalpindi and Lahore from 9 to 21 November.

Main News Report

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced the initial squad on Saturday for the two Tests against Sri Lanka, Geo News reported. The first Test will be played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium from 9 to 13 November, and the second at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium from 17 to 21 November.

Pakistan Test squad: Babar Azam (captain), Abdullah Fazal, Ali Usman, Arafat Minhas, Azan Awais, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ghazi Ghori (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Suleman, Mohammad Taha, Razaullah, Saad Baig (wicketkeeper), Salman Ali Agha, Sameer Minhas and Saud Shakeel.

Alongside Babar, the retained players include Abdullah Fazal, Arafat Minhas, Azan Awais, Mohammad Abbas, wicketkeepers Mohammad Ghazi Ghori and Saad Baig, Razaullah and Saud Shakeel, while left-arm spinner Ali Usman and batter Salman Ali Agha are also in the squad, the ICC reported.

The selectors will add two fast bowlers from the PCB Patron's XI to the Test squad after the three-day warm-up match against Sri Lanka, scheduled for 4 to 6 November at the Islamabad Club. Wicketkeeper-batter Saad Baig will captain the Patron's XI, whose pace attack comprises Mohammad Salman, Shoaib Akhtar Jnr, Ali Shabbir, Saqib Khan and Ubaid Shah, with batter Mohammad Tayyab Arif completing the 13-member side, ARY News reported.

Background Context

The three uncapped batters earned their call-ups on the back of heavy scoring in the domestic first-class season. Left-handed batter Mohammad Taha, 26, is the leading run-scorer in the President's Trophy Grade-I tournament, which began in September, with 730 runs in seven matches, including three centuries and a highest score of 225. Mohammad Suleman ranks fifth on the tournament's batting charts with 652 runs in seven matches, also with three centuries, while Sameer Minhas, playing his maiden first-class season after an encouraging stint with Pakistan's Under-19 side, has scored 405 runs in seven matches, according to Geo News.

The squad announcement also confirms two notable omissions. Former captain Shan Masood has been dropped from the Test squad, Geo News reported, while the ICC noted that Abdullah Shafique, who starred in Pakistan's win in the West Indies with an unbeaten 160 in the first innings of the Port of Spain Test but then struggled in England with 84 runs in six innings, has also been left out.

The series carries World Test Championship points, with Pakistan currently at the bottom of the standings and Sri Lanka in seventh place, the ICC reported. Babar's captaincy continues a week after he passed 16,000 international runs — a landmark covered in PakInsight Hub's report on Babar Azam's 16,000 international runs — achieved during the tri-series opener against these same opponents at Rawalpindi, a match Pakistan won by 37 runs as covered in PakInsight Hub's report on the 37-run win over Sri Lanka.

Reactions and Statements

• PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi: said ahead of the announcement that around 80 per cent of the team would consist of new players, adding that the board had put things in order and expected better results. "We have set things right; good results will follow," he said, Samaa TV reported. He also criticised cricketers who stop working on their skills after achieving fame, stressing the need for continued learning and improvement.
• Naqvi on grassroots cricket: also revealed plans to expand the school cricket programme, with 3,000 children to be inducted next time to identify and develop emerging talent, and said he had asked Pakistan Super League franchise owners to introduce fresh talent into their teams.
• Selection direction: the squad reflects the PCB's stated focus on giving fresh talent an opportunity at Test level as Pakistan prepare for the home series, Samaa TV reported.

Why This News Matters

A home Test series against Sri Lanka is a low-risk stage for a rebuild, and the selectors have used it exactly that way: three uncapped batters, a captain retained for continuity, and two pace places deliberately left open to be earned in the warm-up match. For fans, the headline is the changing of the guard — the old firm around Babar is being thinned out in favour of domestic form, with the President's Trophy's leading scorers walking straight into the Test side.

It also matters because the World Test Championship table leaves no room for drift. Pakistan sit bottom of the standings, so home points against seventh-placed Sri Lanka are the most bankable route back up the table — and the Rawalpindi and Lahore Tests, at the venues where Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in the recent tri-series opener previewed in PakInsight Hub's preview of the Rawalpindi tri-series opener, are where that recovery has to start.

Future Developments

The immediate next step is the three-day warm-up match at the Islamabad Club from 4 to 6 November, after which the selectors will add two fast bowlers from the Patron's XI to complete the Test squad. The first Test begins in Rawalpindi on 9 November, followed by the second Test in Lahore from 17 November.

All eyes will be on whether the uncapped trio — Taha, Suleman and Sameer Minhas — hold their places into the playing XI, and on how Babar Azam leads a side tilted so heavily towards youth. Strong home performances would vindicate the rebuild; a slip against Sri Lanka would sharpen the debate over the senior players left out.

Sources

• Geo News — "Three uncapped players included as Pakistan announce Test squad for Sri Lanka series" (24 October 2026)
• ICC — "Pakistan bring in fresh batting talent for Sri Lanka Tests" (24 October 2026)
• ARY News — "Pakistan announce squad for Sri Lanka Tests" (24 October 2026)
• Samaa TV — "Pakistan name new-look Test squad for Sri Lanka series" (24 October 2026)

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