'Liking, disliking it kills our cricket' - Netizens react after Pakistan drop key players from squad for home Test series against England

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), on Monday, announced an 18-member squad for their forthcoming Test series against England at home. The reigning T20 World Champions are all set to tour Pakistan after concluding their ODI series against Australia. While Pakistan’s squad looks strong, there were some notable exclusions that irked Pakistani cricket fans.

Abrar Ahmed and Mohammad Ali received their maiden call-ups and will be making their debut in the series, and even Haris Rauf has earned a place in the team after showcasing some consistent performances recently.

Pakistan’s pace sensation Shaheen Shah Afridi will be out of the scheme of things for the series as he has been recovering from the injury that he suffered during the T20 World Cup 2022 finale against England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Fawad Alam's exclusion makes fans curious

A few notable names like Fawad Alam, Yasir Shah, and Hasan Ali among others have missed out on the squad. Fawad Alam, a specialist in the format, had not been at his best in the previous two series against Sri Lanka and Australia, but his exclusion from the Test squad came as a shocker for many. Many fans even questioned the exclusion of Mir Hamza from the roster.

Yasir Shah, on the other hand, was not much impressive against Australia, but made a brilliant comeback against Sri Lanka and ended up picking nine wickets. Interestingly, former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed made his way back into the side.

The two teams clashed before the T20 World Cup for the first leg of the series, as England toured Pakistan for seven T20Is. It was a cut-throat competition between the two teams as the series came down to the seventh and final game after Pakistan and England won three matches each. Eventually, England emerged victorious and won the series 4-3.

The two teams will now face each other in three Tests starting December 01, Thursday. While the first game is scheduled at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, the second and third games will take place at the Multan Cricket Stadium and the National Stadium in Karachi.

 Here's how the Twitter reacted:

Fawad Alam dropped after just a 1 bad series against Australia

Different rules for different players

— ٰImran Siddique (@imransiddique89) November 21, 2022

In the absence of Afridi , Hassan Ali or Abbas sudbe in team .Rauf , Waseem both r white ball bowler. Fawad Alam. On which performance Azhar, Imam in team . FAWAD scored more runs in domestic than both of them . Liking , disliking it kills our cricket . #PAKvENG

— muhammad ismail (@muhamma13459214) November 21, 2022

Sarfraz Ahmad, Abrar Ahmad Faheem selected rightly.
Injustice for Fawad, Usman salahuddin, Mir hamza, M. Abbas.
Wasim Jr once again favored.
Bowling too weak in absence of Shaheen.
Don't expect too much against strong English side. #PAKvENG pic.twitter.com/kEIC7XYRos

— Dr Shehzad Shuja🇵🇰 (@DrShujaPakistan) November 21, 2022

For squad, I would have picked Zafar Gohar in first place instead of Nauman Ali and would play my bench strength Shan Masood rather than Azhar this time. #PAKvENG

— Top Edge (@historic_AB) November 21, 2022

Too many questions?🤷‍♂️
Why not Mir Hamza & Fawad Alam…
Abbas and Yasir Shah being side lined?! Hasan would have been better than Faheem🤷‍♂️

Also a lot of burden on Rauf and Naseem hopefully they don’t get any injuries🤞 #PAKvENG https://t.co/0ozQk7ZZhG

— HAMZAPAK10 (@hamzairfan200) November 21, 2022

Yet these numbers are still not enough to be able to catch Chief selector’s eye then whats the criteria of team selection? Fawad Alam the most consistent performer of test team has been unfairly left out of the squad. Injustice !! #PAKvENG https://t.co/EIg1WkhpcP

— Sarmad Ranjha (@sarmdsr) November 21, 2022

Feeling sad for Fawad Alam and Hassan Ali 🙁#PAKvENG https://t.co/iUDi8W8l44

— U$M@N S@££D (@UsmanSa00109982) November 21, 2022

Sadly
Babar and saqlain mushtaq were in favor of Mir hamza as well but he isn't selected by selector .. wasim sahb always say our priority is domestic performers then don't they see Mir hamza there ??? #PakistanCricket #PAKvENG https://t.co/B968Z5dOwe

— Noor Hafeez Abbasi (@noor_babarian56) November 21, 2022

What kind of biased selection is this? Zafar Gohar had a tremendous domestic season and he is ignored. You're going to play with inexperienced players against most experienced and strong English Team. And that's not a joke.#PAKvENG
Hassan Ali
Sarfaraz
Haris Rauf
England pic.twitter.com/moAVTDT3vC

— Muhammad Hussnain Aslam (@HussnainAslam1) November 21, 2022

I don't understand how Pakistan has selected the bowling line.
Debuts for all except Naseem Faheem and Nauman.
Why not left arm pacer Mir Hamza? Where is Muhammad Abbas? Yasir Shah?#PAKvENG

— Danish Sibghat 🇵🇰 (@imdanissh) November 21, 2022

Fawad Alam, Yasir Shah and Sajid after seeing Nauman Ali selected for the squad #PAKvENG pic.twitter.com/mFt420PLmy

— 𝓢𝓮𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓱 🇵🇰 (@itsmeSehrish) November 21, 2022