Umpire Aleem Dar has been named a voting member in Pakistan’s selection committee. He is set to retire as a professional umpire after Pakistan’s domestic season in 2024-25 ends.

He will be joined by Aqib Javed, Azhar Ali, and Hassan Cheema as new members of a panel that consists of Asad Shafiq, who is already a part of the committee. The members will have a right to vote during any selection process in the committee.

The four non-voting members in the committee, include Azhar Mahmood (the assistant coach), Bilal Afzal (an advisor to the PCB chairman), Nadeem Khan (Director – High Performance), and Usman Wahla (Director – International Cricket).

The decision comes after Pakistan’s loss to England by an innings and 47 runs in the Multan Test. Pakistan are in dire need of stepping up in their performances after becoming the first team to register an innings defeat after scoring over 550 runs. It was the third loss in a row at home after their poor outing in the T20 World Cup 2024 which saw Babar Azam resigning as the T20 captain recently.

Talking about the upcoming second Test, with the squad still to be announced, captain Shan Masood said: “Look, we’re in the middle of the series. We’ve talked about a squad mentality. We’ve talked about consistency. Where I’d like the team to improve is, no matter what the pitch is like, we must find a way out. And England showed us the way in this Test match, you have to give huge credit to them.”

Moreover, former Pakistan captain Mohammad Yousuf resigned from the panel, recently, with a new head of the committee still to be named.

Pakistan has notably designated 26 selectors since August 2021.