Azan Awais has been called up to Pakistan's Test squad for the tour of Bangladesh, a reward for a rapid rise that has put the 21-year-old opening batter on the edge of a senior debut.
Awais has yet to play a senior T20 match, but his red-ball record has been strong enough to force his way into the Test conversation. He made his first-class debut in October 2024 and has built a case through volume, consistency and runs across domestic cricket and age-group cricket.
That climb began early. In February 2021, Awais finished as the third-highest run-scorer in the PCB U16 One-Day Tournament and averaged just under 60. By the end of that year, he was already playing three-day cricket at U19 level, and in 2021/22 he averaged 50 with the bat from five matches.
He then carried that form onto the international youth stage. Awais represented Pakistan at the 2024 U19 World Cup in South Africa, where he scored two half-centuries, including one in Pakistan's semifinal loss to eventual champions Australia.
The step up to senior domestic cricket has brought the numbers that usually trigger national attention. In the 2024/25 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Awais scored 844 runs at an average of 76.7 and made four centuries. In the President's Trophy that followed, he added 578 runs and passed fifty five times in 14 innings.
Pakistan kept him close to the senior setup through July 2025, when he was called up for the Pakistan Shaheens tour of England. There, he scored two half-centuries in three one-day matches and made 98 in his first three-day knock, another signal that his best work is still coming in the longer form.
The pattern has continued into the current domestic cycle. Awais produced a second consecutive 800-run season in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in 2025/26, even as he averaged 32 in the President's Trophy, a reminder that his case rests far more on red-ball output than white-ball polish.
Pakistan are returning to Test cricket with the Bangladesh tour before travelling to England later in the summer, and Awais now sits among the next likely debutants. For a batter who has been in the national system since he was 16, the route from youth standout to Test hopeful has been built one long innings at a time.
