LAHORE - Pakistan Cricket Board’s selection committee Tuesday announced its initial 25-member squad for the upcoming tours of Ireland and England, with fast bowler Wahab Riaz out of favour and key spinner Yasir Shah ruled out with injury.

Middle order batsman Fawad Alam was included in the probable list after showing good form in domestic season, having last played a Test in 2009.

The probable team members will join a training camp here from April 18-22 before leaving for the UK a day later to acclimatise ahead of what is expected to be a tough series.

Pakistan will play Ireland in the only Test in Dublin from May 11-15 -- Ireland's first since being granted Test status last year -- before playing two Tests against England, starting at Lord's from May 24 with the second at Leeds from June 1.

Fawad is man in form for Pakistan in domestic circuit since long and his selection in the national team is overdue. The PCB and its selectors have faced serious questions over their selection criteria for continuously ignoring the left-handed batsman who is also the top run getter for Pakistan in first class cricket with more than 10000 runs to his name with an impressive average of 55.37.

Fawad Tuesday also scored an impressive 19 in the Endurance Test, proving to the selectors that even at the age of 32 he has plenty left in the tank as the fitness tests of several players were conducted at the National Cricket Academy.

On Monday, he underwent a rigorous fitness test, putting to bed another reason for the selectors to keep him out of the side. For comparisons, captain Sarfraz Ahmed scored 17.4 in the same fitness test, whereas his 25-year-old understudy M Rizwan topped with a score of 21; Asad Shafiq, with 20, had the second-highest score.

Hasan Ali, Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman — all much younger cricketers than Fawad — scored 18 points each. Fawad, during the last domestic season, scored 570 runs in 10 first-class matches at an average of 40.71 and strike rate of 63.12.

Express pace bowler Wahab, believed to be out of favour with the team management, was left off the list despite taking 40 wickets in the 11 Tests he has played since the Lord's Test against England in July 2016.

Pakistan also suffered a setback on Monday when leg-spinner Yasir Shah was ruled out of both tours with a hip stress fracture. Shah has taken 89 wickets in 16 Tests since July 2016, and was instrumental in Pakistan's 2-2 series draw against England two years ago.

Opener Shan Masood has also not been included due to knee injury. Wheras fast bowler M Abbas has been exempted from fitness test as well as from the training camp as he is busy in England’s county cricket.

Probables:

Batsmen: Azhar Ali, Sami Aslam, Haris Sohail, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Usman Salahuddin,  Fawad Alam,  Saad Ali, Imam-ul-Haq

Spinners: Bilal Asif, M Asghar, Shadab Khan, Kashif Bhatti

Fast bowlers: M Amir, M Abbas, Hasan Ali, Rahat Ali, Mir Hamza

Wicketkeepers: Sarfraz Ahmed, M Rizwan

ALL-ROUNDERS:  Fahim Ashraf, Hussain Talat

Player Development: Shaheen Shah Afridi, Musa Khan