Asia Cup 2023: Saud Shakeel added to Pakistan squad; Tayyib Tahir named travelling reserve

Pakistan added batter Saud Shakeel to their Asia Cup 2023 squad three days before the opening game of the tournament against Nepal in Multan. While Shakeel, who made a solitary appearance in the recently-concluded ODI series against Afghanistan, has been included in the 17-man squad for the continental showpiece event that starts Wednesday, Tayyib Tahir has now been named a travelling reserve, according to ICC. Tahir, who had recently represented Pakistan A in their victorious Emerging Teams Asia Cup campaign, was originally named in Pakistan’s squad for the Asia Cup when it was announced on 9 August along with the squad for the Afghanistan ODIs. Also Read | Complete squads of all countries at Asia Cup 2023 Shakeel has six ODI appearances to his credit including the third ODI against Afghanistan on Saturday, in which he scored 9. Pakistan though, would go on to inflict a 59-run defeat on Hashmatullah Shahidi’s men to complete a 3-0 sweep and head to the Asia Cup high on confidence. Read | Clean sweep against AFG will give us confidence, says Babar ahead of Asia Cup Before the Afghanistan ODIs, Shakeel had starred in the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka, scoring an unbeaten 208 in the series opener at Galle to help the visitors recover from a shaky start and seize a sizeable first-innings lead. His knock proved to be the difference between the two sides as Pakistan would go on to win the closely-fought match by four wickets, and later sweep the series 2-0. Pakistan Asia Cup squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim. Tayyab Tahir (travelling reserve).