LAHORE: Pakistan cricket selectors on Tuesday named Babar Azam as skipper and Shadab Khan his deputy of two national squads for two limited overs series to be played against New Zealand from April 14 to May 7. Pakistan will play five T20Is and five ODIs against Black Caps. The first three T20Is will be played in Lahore while the remaining two in Rawalpindi. The first two ODIs will be held in Rawalpindi with the remaining three in Karachi. The tour includes extra games tacked on to the tour as compensation for New Zealand pulling out of their tour to Pakistan on the day of the first game of their tour in September 2021, citing security concerns. In May 2022, New Zealand paid Pakistan an undisclosed sum of money and agreed to play the extra games, which will be realised now.
Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi is all set to return to international cricket after four months as he is part of both Pakistan squads. Shaheen had missed five Tests and three ODIs against England and New Zealand post the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 as he was completing his rehabilitation following a knee injury he had sustained during the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle in July. He had subsequently missed the second Test against Sri Lanka, ODI series against the Netherlands, ACC Asia Cup in the UAE and seven-match T20I series in Pakistan. The 22-year-old, who has taken 99 Test, 62 ODI and 58 T20I wickets, staged a remarkable comeback in the Pakistan Super League 8 when he inspired Lahore Qalandars to become the first side to successfully defend the title. Not only that, Shaheen’s own performance was outstanding both with the bat and the ball — he scored 133 runs at a strike-rate of 168.35 and grabbed 19 wickets at an economy-rate of 9.13. He was rightly named captain of Team of PSL 8.
Also returning to both squads, along with Babar, are Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf and Mohammad Rizwan. All these players were rested for last month’s three-T20I series against Afghanistan in Sharjah. Shadab led Pakistan in absence of Babar in the series against Afghanistan. Pakistan made wholesome changes to the T20I squad for the Afghanistan series, which they lost 2-1, in order to test their bench strength. Imad Wasim, who was recalled for that series, has been named in T20I squad for the New Zealand series.
Babar will be resuming his normal services as captain while Shadab will return to his original position as vice-captain. Three young guns —- Ihsanullah, Saim Ayub and Zaman Khan —- have been retained in the T20I squad following stellar performances in Sharjah, while Ihsanullah has also been added to the ODI squad for the first time in his career. Azam Khan, Abdullah Shafique and Mohammad Wasim Junior have been dropped from the T20I squad. Haris Sohail, who earned a surprise recall to the national side during the ODI series against New Zealand earlier this year in Karachi, has been retained for the ODI series. Abdullah Shafique has also been named in the ODI squad, while Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain and Shahnawaz Dahani have been dropped. The squad will assemble in Lahore on April 6 where the training camp will commence on April 7.
Pakistan squads:
T20I: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Ihsanullah, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood and Zaman Khan.
ODI: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haris Sohail, Ihsanullah, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood and Usama Mir. Reserves: Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed and Tayyab Tahir.
Series schedule (T20Is to start at 9:00 pm; ODIs to begin at 3:30 pm):
April 14 — 1st T20I, Lahore
April 15 —- 2nd T20I, Lahore
April 17 —- 3rd T20I, Lahore
April 20 —- 4th T20I, Rawalpindi
April 24 —- 5th T20I, Rawalpindi
April 27 —- 1st ODI, Rawalpindi
April 29 —- 2nd ODI, Rawalpindi
May 3 —- 3rd ODI, Karachi
May 5 —- 4th ODI, Karachi
May 7 —- 5th ODI, Karachi.