A long line of players were introduced by Pakistan's cricket laboratory, but the tests were largely unsuccessful.
Since January 2010, 43 test debutants have appeared for the national side, but only three players, namely Azhar Ali (83), Asad Shafiq (77) and Sarfaraz Ahmed (49), have played in more than 30 matches.
Babar Azam (29) was also one of the debutantes on the national side to secure a spot. It is yet to prove fruitful to induce Pakistan Super League performers into the longer format.
The issue with the national Test side was not the influx of new players, but the inability of these cricketers to acclimatize themselves to the demands of international cricket. The management, for its part, has proved inadequate in the transfer to the international arena of these new players.
For a place on the national side, many PSL performers skipped first-class experience, which proved detrimental to their growth. Owing to the failed experiments, the success of the national side has been on a downward spiral.
Pakistan, which ranked high in the 2016 ICC Test rankings, now languishes at number seven. Several former greats, such as Javed Miandad, Mohammad Yousaf and Aqib Javed, have firmly criticized the distribution of test caps.
It must be noted that for the upcoming Test series against South Africa, nine uncapped players were announced in the 20-man squad.