Islamabad
\nThe absence through injury of fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi is a \u201cbig loss\u201d to Pakistan in the three-match Test series starting this week, England head coach Brendon McCullum said Monday.
\nThe lanky left-arm pacer \u2014 Pakistan\u2019s main wicket-taker in all three formats \u2014 was left out of the series following a knee injury sustained during the Twenty20 World Cup final in Australia earlier this month.
\nThe 22-year-old also had his appendix removed earlier this month.
\nEngland practiced for the first time at Rawalpindi stadium on Monday, a day after arriving in Pakistan on their first Test tour since 2005.
\nThe first Test starts on Thursday.
\nMcCullum said Shaheen had made huge progress since he played with and then coached the fast bowler during the first two editions of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in 2016 and 2017.
\n\u201cI know him pretty well. He\u2019s a wonderful bowler and he\u2019s turned into a fine leader for Pakistani cricket,\u201d McCullum told a press conference. \u201cShaheen\u2019s obviously a big loss.\u201d
\nIn his absence, Pakistan will rely on young Naseem Shah as well as Mohammad Wasim Junior and Haris Rauf \u2014 who haven\u2019t played at the Test level.
\nBut McCullum praised Pakistan\u2019s fast-bowling talent.
\n\u201cYou look at their team sheet and you see talent\u2026 you see some that might not be developed talent, but it\u2019s talent.
\n\u201cYou need to respect that, and you need to find a way to be able to be well-researched and well-planned about what\u2019s going to come at you,\u201d he added.
\nEngland were due to visit Pakistan last year but pulled out a week after New Zealand abandoned their limited-over series on security grounds minutes before the first match.
\nThey then re-scheduled the tour in two phases, having visited Pakistan for a Twenty20 series two months ago.
\nMcCullum, who took over as England coach last year, admitted Pakistan would be strong at home.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a very good Pakistan squad, it\u2019s well-rounded,\u201d said McCullum, under who England have won six out of seven Tests.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s got some experience and some youth \u2014 with both batting and bowling \u2014 and they\u2019ll be a tough challenge. \u201cWe know we\u2019ll have to play well if we\u2019re going to be successful.\u201d
\nThe second Test is in Multan (December 9-13) and the third in Karachi (December 17-21).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Islamabad The absence through injury of fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi is a \u201cbig loss\u201d to Pakistan in the three-match Test series starting this week, England head coach Brendon McCullum said Monday. The lanky left-arm pacer \u2014 Pakistan\u2019s main wicket-taker in all three formats \u2014 was left out of the series following a knee injury […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":298109,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-298095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n