Inzamam delved into the circumstances surrounding the absence of Hassan Ali during the 2023 Asia Cup, which initially led to the inclusion of Zaman Khan. While acknowledging Zaman’s prowess, especially in the death overs, Inzamam highlighted the essential requirement of experience in high-profile events like the World Cup.

“Hassan Ali suffered an injury during the Asia Cup, and he was my first choice at that time. However, he was not cleared to play, which prompted us to select Zaman Khan. Zaman brings valuable skills, especially in the crucial death overs. Nevertheless, in an event of this magnitude, we believe it’s vital to have someone with the kind of experience that can truly make a difference,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, Haris Rauf, who suffered a side strain during the Asia Cup, is expected to regain fitness in time for the tournament. Agha Salman, who had bruising under the eye, and Imam-ul-Haq, who experienced back spasms prior to the Super 4 clash, are both on the path to recovery and should be fully fit well before the World Cup begins.

On the first day of the second Test, leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed and fast bowler Naseem Shah showcased their bowling prowess, taking a total of seven wickets as they bowled out Sri Lanka for 166. Pakistan, who lead the two-match series 1-0, had the hosts electing to bat in Colombo.

Dhananjaya de Silva emerged as the top-scorer with a valiant 57 runs before Pakistan wrapped up the innings in the second session. Number eight Ramesh Mendis also made a useful contribution in the lower order with 27 runs before falling to Abrar Ahmed.

Sri Lanka faced early trouble, finding themselves at 36-4 when play began 30 minutes late due to overnight and early morning rain. De Silva, known for his strong performance in the first Test with scores of 122 and 82, led the counter-attack with a quickfire knock. He formed a crucial partnership of 85 runs with Dinesh Chandimal, who contributed 34 runs.

Naseem Shah, who secured three wickets, broke the partnership when he had Chandimal caught by Imam-ul-Haq. Abrar Ahmed soon joined the action, taking two quick wickets, including that of de Silva, to dampen Sri Lanka’s hopes of a comeback.

De Silva displayed impressive form, reaching his 13th Test fifty and striking a six off Abrar before falling victim to the same bowler, getting caught at mid-wicket. His innings of 68 balls featured nine fours and a six.

Sri Lanka’s opening batsman, Nishan Madushka, started with a four but was run out without adding to his score after being called for a quick single by skipper Dimuth Karunaratne. Left-arm quick Shaheen Shah Afridi soon removed Kusal Mendis for six, while Naseem Shah dismissed Sri Lanka’s experienced batsmen, Angelo Mathews and Dimuth Karunaratne, in quick succession.

Pakistan’s Babar Azam-led team emerged victorious in the rain-affected opening Test, defeating Sri Lanka by four wickets in Galle.

Abrar made history with 7 wickets in the first innings of the current Multan Test against England. As the first spinner of Pakistan, Abhishek took 7 wickets in the innings. At one stage, he raised the possibility of taking all 10 wickets by taking the first 7 wickets of the English. In the end, it didn’t. However, he completed 10 wickets in the match with three in the second innings on Saturday. He added another wicket on the third day of the match on Sunday.

In all, Abrar took 11 wickets for 234 runs in his debut Test. Only one other person has the feat of 11 wickets for Pakistan on debut. Former fast bowler Mohammad Zahid took 7 wickets for 130 runs against New Zealand in 1996. None of Pakistan’s spinners had more than 8 wickets on Test debut. If the boundaries are spread beyond Pakistan cricket to world cricket, only 7 spinners in Test history have taken 11 wickets on debut before Abrar.

Abrar took England’s first 7 wickets in the debut innings. Pakistan cricket had big expectations for him. Asking for 11 wickets on debut is certainly excessive. But he would do great, many hoped. He has taken domestic cricket by storm with catch after the catch with the magic of leg spin. Name June took Abrar’s wicket for Sindh in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan’s domestic long-distance tournament last October. 11 wickets against Southern Punjab, 9 against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and 8 against Balochistan. All in all, he bowled 6 matches in that one month and 43 wickets!

He was born in Karachi. Though its roots lie in Shinkiari, a small village off the Karakoram Highway in Abbottabad, a haven of hilly beauty. From there his family settled in Karachi. The story here is similar to that of his other ten cricketers in Pakistan. Growing up playing tape tennis on the streets of Karachi. Getting into an academy by showing a glimpse of talent.

He came into the mainstream of Pakistan cricket playing for Karachi ‘Zone 3’. It is the weakest of the seven cricket zones in Karachi. Abrar brought this team the title in 2016 with 53 wickets.

Later, he honed his bowling in former Pakistani captain Rashid Latif’s academy. He stepped into the top level with a match for Karachi Kings in the 2017 PSL. Despite not getting a wicket, he gave only 22 runs in 4 overs that day. Abrar kept the English batsman calm when Wayne Morgan, who played in the opposing team, played an innings of 80 runs from 57 balls. He did not give a run in 7 of the 16 balls he bowled to Morgan that day. On that day, he won the praise of legends like Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara.

Abrar won the title six years ago even from the weakest cricket zone in Karachi. After playing two matches in Seva’s PSL, he was sidelined with an injury. Not just from the PSL, a dreaded stress fracture kept him away from mainstream cricket for a long time. Somehow he got lost.

After many struggles, he returned to regular cricket in 2020. Siddha showed great performance for the second eleven of the state in white and red and earned a place in the main team. Then he excelled in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy. Move forward along the path of improvement. He took 16 wickets in 5 matches in the 202-21 season, 17 wickets in 2 matches last season, and 43 wickets in 6 matches this time. As a result, he was called to the Pakistan Test team.

He was once known as a mystery spinner in Pakistan cricket. From carrom ball, and Flickr to finger tapping, he used to do many things. But with time gradually emphasized traditional leg spin. Success is also found in that way. He was expected to play in the first Test of the series against England. But Pakistan chose another leg spinner, Zahid Mahmood. Zahid could not make any impact on a lifeless wicket in Rawalpindi in that Test. Abrar also got a place with Zahid in Multan. He was waiting for this opportunity.

Pakistan has been looking for an effective spinner in Tests for quite some time now as Yasir Shah has gradually faded due to injury. Zafar Gohar, Numan Ali, Sajid Khan, and many others have been seen playing. Now Abrar gave the message, he is ready to be Yasir’s successor!

The 24-year-old bespectacled Abrar showed surprise with seven wickets for 114 runs in 22 overs. He might have got the full 10 wickets if another teammate, leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood, had not taken the last three wickets.

England has two fifties in their innings – Ben Duckett 61 and Ollie Pope 60. Besides, Mark Wood remained unbeaten on 36 runs. In reply, Pakistan ended the first day at 107 for two. Captain Babar Azam and Saud Shakeel added 56 runs for the third-wicket pair. Babar is 61 and Shakeel is 32 unbeaten. England leads by 174 runs.

From his first-over dismissal of Zak Crawley to the extraction of Harry Brook – the man who made 240 runs in 181 deliveries last week – Abrar’s canny variations, delivered with a disconcerting flick, ensured Pakistan claimed more wickets in his 13 overs of the session than they had managed in a chastening opening day of the series in Rawalpindi.

Nevertheless, with two of his other victims, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope, setting another high tempo with a brace of fast-paced 60s, England’s innings still had some substance at 180 for 5 after an extended two-and-a-half hour morning session in Multan, with Ben Stokes in situ on a relatively watchful 14 from 16, alongside Will Jacks.

As a measure of their tempo, England’s total was higher even than the 174 for 0 they had racked up before lunch en route to a record 506 for 4 on the first day of the series, but it was harder graft despite winning another useful toss. On a dry and cracked surface, that offered some early purchase for Faheem Ashraf’s cutters, in particular, Crawley even played the first-over maiden, having made Pakistan wait until the 39th over at Pindi for their first runless over.

But England is no longer a team prepared to wait for the ball with their name on it in such conditions, and not even the loss of Crawley to a sublime googly in Abrar’s first over could persuade them to temper their aggression for long. Having stood tall to the seamers to punch three trademark fours through the covers, Crawley was bowled clean through the gate for 19 from 37 balls as Abrar, with little discernible change of action, flicked out a fifth-ball wrong’un to take out the top of off stump and set the agenda for a morning of punch and counter-punch, in a contest that already feels in fast-forward.

Notwithstanding the delivery he had just witnessed, Pope – fresh from his century at Rawalpindi – signaled his intent with a first-ball reverse sweep for four off the final ball of Abrar’s over, but the same stroke nearly brought about his downfall against Zahid Mahmood, Pakistan’s other leg spinner, as he entered the attack in the 14th over.

Mahmood endured a chastening debut in Rawalpindi, where his four first-innings wickets came at an eyewatering cost of 235 runs. But this Multan surface proved significantly more to his liking from the outset. Twice in a row, his high-kicking leg breaks beat Pope’s outside edge, and when the batter responded by reversing his hands on a sweep next ball, he was given out lbw for 11 – only for umpire Marais Erasmus to overturn his decision on review when replays showed he had been struck on the glove, not the pad.

Duckett, by this stage, was once again showing he is a magnificent manipulator of angles in spinning conditions, as he rushed along to a 40-ball half-century with a showcase of sweeps, reverse-sweeps, and wristy late cuts. On 61, however, he too survived a curious case of glove before wicket, as he stooped for another reverse off Abrar and was given out on-field – but after some to-and-fro between Aleem Dar and the third umpire, Joel Wilson, that decision was also overturned. It mattered little, however. Before the over was done, Abrar had his man, as Duckett this time missed a conventional sweep and Babar Azam successfully reviewed the on-field not-out.

At 117 for 2 after 19 overs, England was once again clattering along at more than a run a ball, but there was no thought of consolidation as Joe Root, their best player of spin, came out to join Pope. On 8, Root played back to another big-turning leg break from Abrar, and once again, Pakistan’s review proved successful. And when, four overs later, Pope top-edged a reverse sweep to be caught at backward point for 60, England had slipped to 164 for 4.

There was time for further damage before the interval too, as Brook planted his front foot in a bid to take Abrar down over the long straight boundary, but scuffed his stroke high to Mohammad Nawaz at mid-off. And Abrar might even have made it six before the interval when Stokes, relatively becalmed but still eager to take the positive option, gave Nawaz another teaser at mid-on in the final over of the session.