Jamshed, Irfan left out of Pakistan Test squad

Pakistan have left out Nasir Jamshed and Mohammad Irfan from the 15-member Test squad for the tour of Zimbabwe. The other players to miss out from the squad that played in South Africa in February are batsman Haris Sohail, wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed, batsman Taufeeq Umar and fast bowler Umar Gul, who is out due to injury. They have been replaced by fast bowlers Wahab Riaz and Rahat Ali, along with batsman Imran Farhat (who was not part of the original Test squad in South Africa), batsman Khurram Manzoor and wicketkeeper Adnan Akmal.

Pakistan announced their ODI and T20 squads too, selected by a three-man selection committee contracted to the PCB, but without a chief selector. The announcement was made via a press release without any explanations on the reasons for the changes in the squads, though ESPNcricinfo understands that Irfan has been temporarily relieved from the longer-format, while Jamshed has been restricted to the limited-overs squad to allow 27-year-old Manzoor to assume the opening slot. Manzoor last played for Pakistan during their 2010 tour of Australia.

Irfan's fitness has been a crucial factor in his cricketing life thus far, with concerns over his ability to bowl long spells. He is the tallest cricketer ever to play Test cricket at 7'1", and has played for Pakistan since their December 2012 tour of India. He was retained for both limited-overs squads, besides the three fast bowlers - Junaid Khan, Asad Ali and Anwar Ali. Sarfraz Ahmed, who was part of Pakistan's previous Test squad, lost his spot to Adnan Akmal. Sarfraz was decent behind the stumps, but averaged 13.83 with the bat in three Test matches against South Africa.

Wahab Riaz, who played four ODIs during the recent tour of West Indies, managed to take only two wickets and was subsequently dropped from the one-day and T20 squads, with Anwar Ali replacing him in both formats. Peshawar batsman Mohammad Rizwan, who was also part of the squad in the West Indies, has been left out because of his inclusion in the Pakistan Under-23 squad.

The selectors also recruited a new batsman, Multan-born Sohaib Maqsood, for the Twenty20 squad. Maqsood finished as one of the leading runs scorers in the President's One-day Cup, where he scored 427 runs at 71.60. He also scored 402 runs at 50.25 in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy, and was the top-scorer for WAPDA in the President's Trophy, finishing with 618 runs at 41.20. Anwar Ali, who first gained recognition with his swing bowling during the 2006 Under-19 World Cup, has only played one T20 International against Zimbabwe in 2008.

Moin Khan, whose appointment as chief selector was ruled out by the Islamabad High Court two weeks ago, has been named team manager for the tour. Fast bowling coach Mohammad Akram has also been asked to continue despite his contract running out in the middle of August.

Test squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat, Asad Shafiq, Khurram Manzoor, Adnan Akmal (wk), Faisal Iqbal, Younis Khan, Azhar Ali, Junaid Khan, Wahab Riaz, Saeed Ajmal, Abdul Rehman, Rahat Ali, Ehsan Adil

ODI squad: Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shahzad, Asad Shafiq, Umar Amin, Umar Akmal (wk), Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Abdul Rehman, Asad Ali, Anwar Ali, Haris Sohail

T20 squad: Mohammad Hafeez (capt), Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shahzad, Umar Amin, Umar Akmal, Sohaib Maqsood, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Irfan, Junaid Khan, Zulfiqar Babar, Asad Ali, Anwar Ali, Haris Sohail