Pakistan named their preliminary 18-man squad for the two-match Test series against South Africa, which includes the surprising selection of 38-year-old uncapped left-arm spinner Asif Afridi.
Pakistan's home Test series against South Africa starts on October 12 with the first match in Lahore and the second in Rawalpindi. Shan Masood will continue as leader of the side, which sees three uncapped faces in Asif Afridi, Faisal Akram and Rohail Nazir. According to the PCB release, the 18-man squad will be trimmed before the first game.
Pakistan squad for South Africa Tests: Shan Masood (capt), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Asif Afridi, Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Noman Ali, Rohail Nazir (wk), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Who is Asif Afridi?
Among the three uncapped players, the one name that stands out is that of Afridi. Faisal Akram and Rohail Nazir are 22- and 23-year-old up and coming youngsters, but Afridi is a 38-year-old veteran who has been around for more than a decade and a half.
Afridi made his first-class debut in 2009 for Abbottabad, bowling seven wicketless overs for 35 runs. Since then, he has played 57 first-class games, picking up 198 wickets at 25.49, including 13 five-fors and two 10-wicket hauls.
The left-arm spinner has also played 60 List A and 85 T20 games, picking up 83 and 78 wickets respectively. He made his PSL debut in 2022 for Multan Sultans, where he took eight wickets in five games before switching to Lahore Qalandars for PSL 2025, where he picked up seven wickets in nine matches, bowling at an economy rate of 7.41.
Asif Afridi career record
| Format | Mat | Wkts | BBI | BBM | Ave | Econ | SR | 5w | 10w |
| First-class | 57 | 198 | 6/36 | 11/204 | 25.49 | 2.92 | 52.3 | 13 | 2 |
| List A | 60 | 83 | 5/31 | 5/31 | 29.81 | 4.64 | 38.5 | 2 | 0 |
| T20s | 85 | 78 | 5/26 | 5/26 | 23.2 | 6.97 | 19.9 | 1 | 0 |
How did Afridi make it to the Pakistan Test side?
Afridi has not let age catch up with him. The left-arm spinner has been in decent form in domestic cricket: he took nine wickets in four Quaid-e-Azam Trophy games last season at 21.44, before following it up with 18 wickets from six President's Trophy Grade-I games at an average of 25.16.
This, coupled with Pakistan's spin-heavy strategy in home Tests set things up nicely for Afridi to be picked in the squad. He is one of five spin options, including fellow 38-year-old left-arm orthodox Noman Ali, off-spinner Sajid Khan, leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed, uncapped left-arm wrist-spinner Faisal Akram, and T20I captain Agha Salman.
However, with the footnote that the squad will be trimmed ahead of the first Test, there's still a chance that Afridi misses out from the final group, the size of which has not been announced yet.
Image credit: Instagram/Asif Afridi
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