Pakistan’s top guns, Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi, who are the country’s leading batter and strike bowler, have been named in the T20 World Cup squad. The World Cup starts on February 7 and will be played in India and Sri Lanka.
On Sunday, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced a 15-member squad for the 10th edition of the T20 World Cup.
Salman Ali Agha will lead the Pakistan team, while bowler Haris Rauf and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan are among a couple of high-profile names that failed to make the squad.
Babar Azam, the all-time leading run-scorer in men’s T20Is, wasn’t a part of Pakistan’s T20 squad which faced Sri Lanka in a three-match series earlier this month due to his commitments with Australian franchise Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League (BBL).
He last featured in T20Is for Pakistan in a tri-nation series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in November and has also been selected for the three-match T20 series against Australia, starting later this month.
Babar Azam’s return to the team adds firepower to the Pakistani batting unit, which boasts a solid top order that also features the hard-hitting duo of Faheem Ashraf and Fakhar Zaman.
In the absence of fast bowler Haris Rauf, Shaheen Shah Afridi along with Naseem Shah will spearhead Pakistan bowling unit.
Pakistan have also named several all-rounders in their squad with the likes of Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz, all providing the team numerous options and combinations with bat as well as ball.
Winners of the 2009 T20 World Cup, Pakistan have been placed in Group Group A alongside co-hosts and defending champions India, Netherlands, USA and Namibia for the latest edition.
Pakistan will play all their matches in Sri Lanka. They will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against the Netherlands in Colombo on the opening day of the tournament.
The highly anticipated India vs Pakistan cricket match will take place on February 15 at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
The squad: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Usman Tariq.
