Shaheen Afridi left out of the second Test against Bangladesh

Senior pace bowler Shaheen Afridi has been left out of the Pakistan national team for the second test against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi, starting on August 30.

While Shaheen’s head coach Jason Gillespie avoided saying he had been dropped instead he said Afridi was “working on some things” to enhance his effectiveness. Pakistan named a 12-member squad on the eve of the match, which included speedster Mir Hamza and leg spinner Abrar Ahmed. 

"Shaheen's missed out this game," Gillespie said. "We've had a good conversation with him, and he fully understands and appreciates the thinking behind it. Shaheen's been given some feedback. He's working on some things with his bowling to be as effective as he possibly can be. He's working really well with Azhar Mahmood. We want to see Shaheen at his best because we've got a lot of cricket in all formats and Shaheen's going to play a really big role in that."

While Abrar is likely to play the game on Friday after Pakistan opted to pick a pace-heavy attack for the opening test backfired, Gillispe said PCB named 12 because of the weather conditions in Rawalpindi. It has rained for most of the last three days, and with the pitch under the covers, neither team has been able to get a closer assessment of the surface. On Thursday the training was also called off due to the weather, with the press conferences held at the Serena Hotel. 

“We're looking at what our best combination is this game," Gillespie said. "We'll look at conditions and decide what the best makeup of our bowling attack looks like. We haven't been able to look at the surface much because of the weather, so we wanted to name 12. We want to be as informed as we possibly can before we select the side we think is best capable of taking 20 wickets."

Pakistan must secure victory in the second Test to draw the series, having suffered their first loss to Bangladesh in the format in Rawalpindi over the weekend.