Pakistan Squads For Tours of South Africa And Zimbabwe Announced
Pakistan Cricket Board has named a 35-member contingent for the two tours. Shadab Khan and Mohammad Hafeez have returned to the T20I squad.
Pakistan, on Friday, announced their squads for the forthcoming tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe, where the team will play seven T20Is, three ODIs, and two Tests. Veteran batsman Mohammad Hafeez has found a place in the T20I squad after missing the series against South Africa.
Interestingly rather amusingly, Pakistan also included Sharjeel Khan in the squad, who served a ban for spot-fixing, in the national T20 squad for the upcoming away tours of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Sharjeel scored 233 runs in the National T20 Cup in the 2020-21 season.
Sharjeel Khan was banned from all cricket for 5 years; later on subsequent appeals, the ban was reduced to a suspension. Shadab Khan has also recovered from his injury but will only feature in the T20Is.
While former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed makes a comeback to the ODI team, pacer Wahab Riaz is dropped. Pakistan will miss the services of Yasir Shah from the Test side as he is in rehab to recover from his injury.
“Sharjeel Khan has also staged a comeback in the T20I squad,” said chief selector Mohammad Wasim said.
“Although he is exactly not where we want him to be, he is not too far away. With the form he has recently shown in the domestic T20 events, he deserves an opportunity to further improve his fitness and show he still has that ability to win big matches for Pakistan.
“Aamer Yamin, Amad Butt and Kamran Ghulam are unlucky to miss out on selections,” said Wasim.
“Aamer and Amad have paved the way for Mohammad Hafeez and Shadab Khan in the T20I squad, while Kamran has narrowly missed out to Salman Ali Agha and Saud Shakeel in the Test side. However, the three are in the larger pool of players and will get their opportunity at some stage as we have a busy year of cricket ahead of us.”
Pakistan’s Squad For The South Africa & Zimbabwe Tour
Test Squad: Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Imran Butt, Abid Ali, Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, Saud Shakeel, Agha Salman, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Tabish Khan, Hasan Ali, Shahnawaz Dhani, Nauman Ali, Zahid Mahmood, Sajid Khan.
ODI Squad: Babar Azam (capt), Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haider Ali, Danish Aziz, Saud Shakeel, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Usman Qadir, Hasan Ali.
T20I Squad: Babar Azam (capt), Mohammad Hafeez, Haider Ali, Danish Aziz, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Shadab Khan, Sharjeel Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Usman Qadir, Hasan Ali, Arshad Iqbal
