Sharjeel Khan earns maiden call-up for New Zealand Tests

Explosive batsman Sharjeel Khan, who has been a regular presence for Pakistan at the top of the order in limited-overs cricket in 2016, has earned up a maiden call-up to the Test squad for the upcoming New Zealand tour.

Sharjeel, who made his international debut in 2013, has played a total of 76 first-class matches and made 4,853 runs at an average of 37.91.

In August, the Hyderabad-born batsman made an impressive comeback by an innings of 152 off 86 balls against Ireland after being sidelined for a year due to a dip in form and from thereafter he has played some memorably explosive knocks.

However, the left-hander came into contention for Test cricket after scoring 96 and 82 not out in successive innings in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, reported espncricinfo.

Another uncapped player, Mohammad Rizwan, who was with the team in England in July this year, but was left out for the subsequent Tests against West Indies in the UAE, has been included in the 16-man Test squad.

Pakistan will play two Test matches in the tour. The first Test match will be played from November 17-21 at the Hagley Oval, Christchurch and the second Test will commence from November 25-29 at the Seddon Park, Hamilton.

The Test squad is as follows:

Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Azhar Ali, Sami Aslam, Sharjeel Khan, Younis Khan, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Rizwan, Yasir Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Rahat Ali, Sohail Khan, Imran Khan.