Yasir Shah to work with Mushtaq Ahmed after being released from Pakistan Test squad

Leg-spinner struggled with the ball in Australia and was omitted from the Rawalpindi Test

Leg-spinner Yasir Shah has been struggling with the ball. Getty Images

Pakistan leg-spinner Yasir Shah was released from the squad on Thursday to work with spin consultant Mushtaq Ahmed before the second Test against Sri Lanka in Karachi next week.

Shah – the fastest to 200 Test wickets – was dropped for the first Test against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi as the team went in with an all-pace attack.

The leggie had struggled during the Test series defeat in Australia. He failed to pick up wickets and keep the run rate down; Shah took 4-205 runs in Brisbane and finished with figures of 0-197 in Adelaide. He did, however, score a century in the second match against the Aussies.

Ahmed was appointed as a spin consultant by the Pakistan board last week and will work for 120 days a year at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.

Shah will train with Ahmed at the NCA before joining the squad in Karachi on Monday. The second Test begins on Thursday.

After his disappointing effort with the ball in Australia, Shah said his bowling pace was not ideal.

"It's every spinner's wish to do well in Australia because that raises your image and profile. I've put in a lot of hard work. The last time I bowled too fast. And I was bowling at a faster pace than what I wanted to here, too, and I didn't use my variations well," he said.