Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday named a new-look 15-player squad for the three-match T20I series in opposition to Afghanistan, which will likely be performed from March 24 to March 27 in Sharjah.
All-rounder Shadab Khan will captain the aspect that comes with 4 uncapped avid gamers, specifically, Ihsanullah, Saim Ayub, Tayyab Tahir and Zaman Khan, whilst Abdullah Shafique, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf and Imad Wasim had been recalled.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam, in conjunction with Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi had been rested, whilst Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Mohammad Hasnain and Khushdil Shah had been dropped. These 9 avid gamers have been a part of the Pakistan squad that reached the general of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia.
Apart from the Shadab, avid gamers retained from the ultimate T20I series are: Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Junior, Naseem Shah and Shan Masood.
Pakistan squad
1. Shadab Khan (captain) (Islamabad United)
2. Abdullah Shafique (Lahore Qalandars)
3. Azam Khan (Islamabad United)
4. Faheem Ashraf (Islamabad United)
5. Iftikhar Ahmed (Quetta Gladiators)
6. Ihsanullah (Multan Sultans)
7. Imad Wasim (Karachi Kings)
8. Mohammad Haris (Peshawar Zalmi)
9. Mohammad Nawaz (Quetta Gladiators)
10. Mohammad Wasim Jnr (Islamabad United)
11. Naseem Shah (Quetta Gladiators)
12. Saim Ayub (Peshawar Zalmi)
13. Shan Masood (Multan Sultans)
14. Tayyab Tahir (Karachi Kings)
15. Zaman Khan (Lahore Qalandars)
Reserve avid gamers – Abrar Ahmed (Islamabad United), Haseebullah (Peshawar Zalmi) and Usama Mir (Multan Sultans)
Chair of PCB Management Committee, Najam Sethi:
“I need to congratulate Shadab Khan on his appointment because the Pakistan crew captain for the series in opposition to Afghanistan. Shadab Khan has been the Pakistan vice-captain in white-ball cricket for the previous couple of years and it’s logical that he is taking over the aspect in the absence of Babar Azam for the quick three-match T20I excursion of Sharjah.
“For the short Sharjah tour and to ensure continuity, we have also appointed Mohammad Yousuf as the interim head and batting coach. Yousuf has been with the national side since last year as a batting coach and has also been working in the National High Performance Centre.”
Chair of the choice committee, Haroon Rashid:
“For the quick three-T20I series in opposition to Afghanistan, the choice committee has adopted the usual rotation coverage through resting the main performers and offering high-performing home performers with alternatives to display their ability and attainable on the world degree. This can even permit us to check the temperament and skills of those avid gamers and serving to us to reinforce our pool of avid gamers as we stay up for development and getting ready a powerful aspect for subsequent 12 months’s T20 World Cup in the West Indies and United States.
“However, and in doing so, we now have ensured that we make a choice an aspect this is similarly robust and able to profitable the series in opposition to a robust Afghanistan aspect for whom Sharjah is sort of a 2nd house. And to reach that, we now have retained seven avid gamers from the ultimate series, recalled 4 skilled cricketers and clubbed them with 4 uncapped avid gamers to make the 15-member aspect a in point of fact combination of teenybopper and revel in.
“In this background, I need to congratulate Ihsanullah, Saim Ayub, Tayyab Tahir and Zaman Khan who’ve damaged into the nationwide aspect after a series of robust performances in the home circuit in addition to the HBL PSL 8. Abdullah Shafique, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf and Imad Wasim had been recalled when they too demonstrated in the HBL PSL 8 that they’re able to exceling in the shortest layout and in addition offering revel in and steadiness in the aspect.
“Babar, Fakhar, Haris, Rizwan and Shaheen have been provided breaks from the short Sharjah trip to allow them to switch-off from competitive cricket so that they can complete their rehabilitations, regroup, recompose and recharge their batteries and be fully fit for the challenges in the tough and challenging 2023-24 season.”
About the uncapped and recalled avid gamers:
In the HBL PSL 8, Azam has scored 280 runs in 9 event at a strike-rate of virtually 163, Saim Ayub has scored 309 runs in 10 suits at a strike-rate of 167, Tayyab Tahir has scored 137 runs in 5 suits at a strike-rate of 144 after aggregating 413 runs in 11 National T20 suits at a strike-rate of 138, while Ihsanullah has picked up 20 wickets in 10 suits at an economy-rate of seven.36 and Zaman Khan has claimed 12 wickets in 10 suits at an economy-rate of 8.68.
Abdullah Shafique has scored 193 runs in seven HBL PSL 8 suits at a strike-rate of 144, Faheem Ashraf has scored 210 runs and brought seven wickets, whilst Imad has scored 404 runs (strike-rate of 170) and brought 9 wickets (economy-rate of seven.93).
Player workload control:
In the previous 15 months, Babar and Rizwan have nearly been at the street, whilst Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf and Shaheen Shah Afridi have battled accidents.
Babar has performed 10 Tests, 12 ODIs, 26 T20Is and 19 HBL PSL suits, whilst Rizwan has featured in 8 Tests, 11 ODIs, 25 T20Is and 22 HBL PSL suits but even so a couple of suits in the Bangladesh Premier League. Haris Rauf has seemed in one Test, 10 ODIs, 23 T20Is and 23 HBL PSL suits.
Fakhar Zaman and Shaheen Shah Afridi have demonstrated superb recoveries from the knee accidents through enjoying in 10 and 9 HBL PSL 8 suits, respectively. However, each megastar avid gamers want extra time to finish their rehabilitations to regain entire event health. Fakhar suffered knees accidents prior and all the way through the T20 World Cup, whilst Shaheen was once sidelined for 3 months in July after selecting up a knee harm in the primary Galle Test. Although Shaheen returned for the T20 World Cup, he neglected the house series in opposition to England and New Zealand in December 2022 and January 2023.
Pakistan is scheduled to function in 8 ODIs in a lead as much as the 50-over Asia Cup 2023 and the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, will play in seven ICC World Test Championship suits and seem in 25 T20Is in the construct as much as the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 over the following 15 months.
