Sri Lankan team is ready to play the Test match against Pakistan in Pakistan. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the 16-member squad for the upcoming historic home Test series. The big news in this selection is Fawad Alam has returned in the Test side after 10 years.
Since the Lahore terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan national cricket team bus in March 2009, Pakistan hasn’t organised a single Test match in the country. After more than ten years of wait, finally, Pakistan has got the opportunity to host a Test match as the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has decided to play the two-match Test series in Pakistan.
In the last September-October, Sri Lanka travelled Pakistan for the limited-overs series. As the senior players opted themselves out from that tour, the SLC sent an inexperienced squad for the three-match ODI and three-match T20I series. While Pakistan won that ODI series by 2-0, the visiting team Sri Lanka stunned everyone by winning the T20I series by 3-0 margin.
The upcoming two-match Test series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka is a part of the inaugural ICC World Test Championship (2019-21). This time the SLC has named a strong Sri Lankan Test squad for the upcoming series. Here is the points distribution for this forthcoming Test series.
| Matches in series | Points for a win | Points for a tie | Points for a draw | Points for a defeat |
| 2 | 60 | 30 | 20 | 0 |
Fawad Alam, who has scored 12,000+ first-class runs, has played only three Tests
The Pakistan selectors have made two changes from the last Test squad that recently toured in Australia. Fawad Alam has replaced Iftikhar Ahmed and Test uncapped left-arm pacer Usman Shinwari has replaced Muhammad Musa.
Maintaining his great domestic form, the 34-year-old Fawad Alam has finally returned to the national side. While the left-handed batsman has scored 12,000+ first-class runs, he has played only three Tests, all in 2009. After scoring 168 runs in his Test debut, he failed to score even 30 runs in other Test innings.
However, in recent times, Fawad Alam has been in outstanding form. In the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2019/20, Fawad Alam scored 781 runs in 10 matches (13 innings) with an average of 71.00. In this tournament, he hit four centuries and two half-centuries.
Fawad Alam last played for Pakistan in April 2015 as he has also played 38 ODIs and 24 T20Is.
Pakistan squad: Azhar Ali (c), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Yasir Shah, Usman Shinwari
Full Test series schedule of Sri Lanka tour of Pakistan 2019/20
(Two-match Test series)
11th-15th December 2019: 1st Test – Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium (Rawalpindi)
19th-23rd December 2019: 2nd Test – National Stadium (Karachi)