Abrar Ahmed set to replace Shadab Khan in Pakistan’s World Cup squad

Karan Agarwal September 19, 2023

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It seems like Pakistan has pressed the panic button just before the World Cup with some major changes on the cards before the mega event in India. According to reports selectors are set to drop vice-captain Shadab Khan from the World Cup squad with young leg spinner Abrar Ahmed coming in as his replacement. While fast bowler Shaheen Afridi is expected to be named as the new vice-captain of the team.

Shadab has not been performing well which was evident by the fact that the leg spinner was able to pick up only two wickets in the three matches of the Super Four stage of the tournament which costed Pakistan heavily as the team was knocked out of the tournament before the final.

The Mystery Spinner

Pakistan’s skipper, Babar Azam, expressed his disappointment with the performance of some senior players, with Shadab Khan being one of the players under scrutiny. In the wake of the news, Abrar Ahmed has emerged as a potential contender for a spot in the World Cup squad. Abrar emerged on the scene in his debut series against England in 2022. Since then the leg spinner has taken 38 wickets in six test matches he has played so far in his career.

Abrar Ahmed is likely to replace Shadab Khan in the Pakistan's squad for the World Cup 2023. (To Geo News) pic.twitter.com/C55gGWZjr8
— CricketMAN2 (@ImTanujSingh) September 19, 2023

Earlier Shadab had said that the team did not enjoy under Babar’s captaincy. In the words of Shadab “We don’t really enjoy with Babar Azam on the field because he is a different person altogether over there, but we do enjoy with him off the field,” the leg spinner was quoted by Cricket Pakistan as saying the same.

The Selection Headache

Pakistan is already without the services of their in-form bowler Naseem Shah who has been ruled out of the mega event in India following an injury to his shoulder which he sustained during the Asia Cup match against India while his fast bowling partner Haris Rauf is also a doubtful starter for the World Cup after sustaining an injury in the same match. There are some reports which suggest that the latter might be fit in time for the World Cup while the former could be replaced by Zaman Khan or Hasan Ali.