Nicknamed Harry Potter for his youthful looks and spectacles, Abrar Ahmed conjured up a dream beginning when he became just the fourth bowler in Test cricket to take five wickets in the first session on debut. His seven-for against England in Multan in December 2022 instantly established him as Pakistan's first-choice spinner in a period of spin-bowling famine for the side.
The legspinner's superb start in Tests continued with five wickets in an innings against New Zealand in Karachi, and he was the joint-leading wicket-taker in a 2-0 away series win in Sri Lanka.
However, Abrar's biggest challenge was his fitness. He first rose to prominence in the PSL in 2017, nearly six years before his international debut. But a persistent back injury kept him out of the game for several years. Fitness concerns emerged again in his second year of international cricket, when he was ruled out of Pakistan's Test series in Australia in 2023-24 with a pinched nerve in his leg. However, with Yasir Shah having retired and Shadab Khan no closer to stepping up in red-ball cricket, Abrar remains Pakistan's go-to legspinner.
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