 "Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have found no place in Pakistan's T20I squad. Image: PTI")
Amid reports that the new Pakistan head coach, Mike Hesson, could give Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan a new lease of life in T20Is , the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday announced the duo have not been included in its squad for the home T20I series against Bangladesh. Besides Babar and Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi has also been dropped as Hesson gets ready to take charge of the Pakistan cricket team for the first time.
Salman Ali Agha has been retained as the captain as Pakistan aim to build a squad for next year’s T20 World Cup, to be hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
Fast bowler Shaheen had played in Pakistan’s last T20 series in New Zealand in March, but batsmen Azam and Rizwan were omitted for the second consecutive T20 series after being criticised for slow scoring.
“The squad has been selected based on players’ performances in the ongoing Pakistan Super League, which concludes on May 25,” the Pakistan Cricket Board said in a statement.
Shaheen has taken 12 wickets for Lahore Qalandars in 10 PSL matches at an economy rate of 8.20.
Opener Sahibzada Farhan earned a recall after topping the PSL batting charts with 394 runs.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsBatsmen Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman return after missing the New Zealand tour with injuries.
Fast bowler Hasan Ali is back after being sidelined with multiple injuries since May last year.
The PCB said that the series match schedule, which has been affected by a 10-day delay to the PSL caused by the deadly India-Pakistan conflict, will be announced soon with all three matches to be held in Lahore.
Pakistan squad: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Shadab Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Wasim, Mohammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub
With agency inputs