Pakistan recalls Asif, Ashraf for Bangla Test

Ashraf, 26, showed a lot of promise in his debut Test against Ireland in 2018 when he scored 83 but then faced injury problems and was discarded after the South Africa tour in January last year.

Bilal, 34, played the last of his five Tests against New Zealand in December 2018 and was not selected last year.

Senior batsman Azhar Ali will lead the team.

Head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq said Ashraf did well in the domestic tournament final two months ago.

“We have this option of playing a pace bowling allrounder against Bangladesh and Ashraf took five wickets in the Quaid-e-Azam trophy final so we have selected him,” said Misbah.

The first Test starts in Rawalpindi from February 7. Bangladesh had agreed to tour Pakistan in three phases and after playing three Twenty20 internationals returned home earlier this week.

They will play the first Test and then return again for the sole one-day international (April 3) and second Test (April 7-11) — both in Karachi.

Misbah said Pakistan would have to play at its best despite beating Bangladesh 2-0 in the three-match Twenty20 series, with one match rained off.

“There is no guarantee that if a team doesn’t do well in one format then it will not do better in the other format as well,” said Misbah.