Pakistan has excluded left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi from their 12-member squad for the second Test against Bangladesh, starting on August 30 at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. The squad features spinner Abrar Ahmed and left-arm pacer Mir Hamza.

According to Pakistan’s red-ball coach Jason Gillespie, Afridi, who plays all three formats and recently became a father, will be given time to spend with his family. Afridi struggled in the first Test, taking only two wickets in the first innings.

Pakistan aims to recover from their first-ever defeat to Bangladesh in the opening Test of the series. The first Test, initially looking likely to end in a draw, saw Pakistan’s batting collapse on the final day as they managed only 146 runs, setting Bangladesh a modest target of 30 runs.

Pakistan squad:

Shan Masood (c), Saud Shakeel (vc), Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Ali, Salman Ali Agha, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Abdullah Shafique, Naseem Shah, Khurram Shehzad