Cricket fans were left shocked after Pakistan’s batsman Fawad Alam’s exclusion from the first Test against Sri Lanka at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi on Wednesday and took to Twitter to register their disbelief.

The accomplished domestic batsman, who was selected in the squad on the back of a scintillating string of performances in the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam (QeA) Trophy, was expected to replace the struggling middle-order batsman Haris Sohail.

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The left-hander has been in red-hot form during the ongoing QeA Trophy and was justly rewarded with a place in the Pakistan squad.

Alam followed up his double century in the previous round, against Southern Punjab, with a century against Balochistan to bring up the 34th ton of his remarkable first-class career. It was the 34-year-old’s third century of the tournament

The team management, however, decided against the inclusion of Alam into a side that severely lacks a stabilising force in the batting department.

He played the last of his three Test matches in New Zealand in 2009 and was last seen in Pakistan colours in a 2015 One-day International (ODI) in Bangladesh.

Fans were left shocked by the development as Alam’s inclusion had been hinted by the management in the lead up to the first Test.