Hard-hitting batsman Azam Khan earned his maiden Pakistan call-up yesterday after shedding 30 kilos (66 pounds) to earn his place on the tours of England and West Indies. Khan, 22, has been on the radar of selectors for the last year, but was asked to trim his nearly 130-kilo weight before being considered.
Azam, the son of ex-skipper Moin Khan, claims to have lost about 30 kilos in the past 12 months. He has a strike rate of 157 in 36 domestic Twenty20 matches, including the Pakistan Super League.
“We have... recalled four experienced players and rewarded uncapped Azam for his domestic performance,” said chief selector Mohamed Wasim.
Pakistan will play three ODIs and three Twenty20s against England in July, followed by five T20s and two Tests in the West Indies. Medium-pace bowlers Mohamed Abbas and Naseem Shah were recalled for the Tests, while left-handed batsman Haris Sohail and all-rounder Imad Wasim regained their places in the white-ball squads.
Babar Azam will captain all three squads on both tours. Pakistan will fly from Abu Dhabi on June 25 and play the first of three one-day internationals in Cardiff on July 8, after their mandatory quarantine.

Pakistan Squads: ODIs:
Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Abdullah Shafique, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Haris Sohail, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohamed Hasnain, Mohamed Nawaz, Mohamed Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Qadir
T20Is: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Arshad Iqbal, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Mohamed Hafeez, Mohamed Hasnain, Mohamed Nawaz, Mohamed Rizwan, Mohamed Wasim Junior, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sharjeel Khan, Usman Qadir
Tests: Babar Azam (capt), Mohamed Rizwan, Abdullah Shafique, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imran Butt, Mohamed Abbas, Mohamed Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Yasir Shah (subject to fitness), Zahid Mahmood

Ex-Sri Lanka skipper Jayasuriya to coach low-key Aussie club
Former Sri Lanka captain and chief selector Sanath Jayasuriya was appointed head coach of a little-known club in Australia yesterday, joining two fellow countrymen at the ambitious side. Mulgrave Cricket Club, which plays in Victoria’s Eastern Cricket Association, said the 110-Test veteran would be in charge for the 2021/22 season.
That will mark Jayasuriya’s return to the game after a two-year ban for breaching the ICC anti-corruption code, announced in February 2019. Jayasuriya’s ban took effect from October 15, 2018, after he was charged with refusal to co-operate with investigators concerning corruption in Sri Lanka.
 The charges also included obstructing or delaying the investigation, including concealing, tampering with or destroying any documentation or other information which may have been relevant. The investigation was related to Zimbabwe’s ODI series win in Sri Lanka in 2017, specifically the fourth match in Hambantota, which took place when Jayasuriya was serving as Sri Lanka’s chairman of selectors.
“We are thrilled to have Sanath at the club to coach and work with our players, providing a fantastic wealth of experience for our seniors and juniors,” it said on Facebook. Jayasuriya, 51, will join fellow Sri Lankans Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga, who had already signed on as players.
Mulgrave president Malin Pullenayegam said Dilshan, who played with Jayasuriya in a Sri Lanka Legends’ side earlier this year, was instrumental in helping secure his services. “We’ve been having a chat to him for a while through obviously Dilshan as a contact,” he told the Melbourne Herald Sun newspaper.
“They caught up during the legends series and started having a few discussions. Dilshan opened the door for us there, and it was a fantastic opportunity that was presented to us,” he added. “We just had to work on it and come to an agreement, and we have.”
Jayasuriya represented Sri Lanka 586 times across the three formats of the game, smacking 42 centuries and taking 440 wickets. He played his last international in 2011.