LAHORE: Spin bowler Abrar Ahmed, wicketkeeper batter Haseebullah Khan and pace bowler Abbas Afridi earned their maiden call-up to the T20I squad of Pakistan for the tour of New Zealand.
Wahab Riaz, the head of the national men’s selection committee, accompanied by selection consultant Kamran Akmal announced a 17-member Pakistan squad for the T20I series during a press conference.
Pakistan is scheduled to play a five-match T20I series against New Zealand commencing from 12 January 2024 to 21 January 2024.
This will be Shaheen Afridi’s first assignment as the T20I captain after being named Pakistan’s captain in the shortest form following Babar Azam’s resignation last month.
Leg spinner Shadab Khan was ruled out of the series due to an ankle injury, which he suffered during the National T20 Cup.
Abrar Ahmed, who is currently part of Pakistan’s Test squad in Australia, will form the spin attack in New Zealand with fellow leg-spinner Usama Mir as well as all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz and Iftikhar Ahmed.
Meanwhile, wicketkeeper batter Mohammad Haris is rested for this series after being part of the Pakistan squad for the home T20I series against New Zealand earlier this year.
“We have rested Mohammad Haris for this series. We know his capability and he is part of our plans going forward,” said Wahab Riaz over Haris’ exclusion from the squad.
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“There were some domestic performers in First Class cricket who we wanted to give a chance and increase our pool of players, so we rested Haris from this tour,” he added.
Opening batter Sahibzada Farhan was recalled into the T20I squad on the back of his impressive performance in the National T20 Cup, where he was the highest run-scorer with 492 runs in 12 innings at an average of 44.72 and a strike rate of 178.90.
Farhan has previously represented Pakistan in three T20Is back in 2018.
Explosive wicketkeeper batter Azam Khan was also recalled into the T20I side, after missing out in the last T20I series against New Zealand.
22-year-old pace bowler Abbas Afridi also earned his maiden call-up to the national side after his impressive performances throughout the year.
Afridi was the highest wicket-taker in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) earlier this year with 23 wickets in 11 matches, and he followed that with 14 wickets in nine games during the National T20 Cup.
Pakistan’s squad will partake in a training camp from 28 December 2023 to 03 January 2024 in Lahore to prepare for the tour.
In addition to the selected played in the squad, some additional players have also been invited to feature in the training camp, including, Ahmed Shehzad, Omair Bin Yousuf, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Amir Khan, Sajjad Ali, Mohammad Haris, Aarif Yaqoob, Shahab Khan and Mohammad Imran Jnr.
Pakistan squad for the tour of New Zealand
Shaheen Shah Afridi (c), Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Abrar Ahmed, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Zaman Khan, Aamir Jamal, Azam Khan (wk), Sahibzada Farhan, Haseebullah Khan (wk) and Abbas Afridi.
Schedule of the Series
First match: New Zealand vs Pakistan, 12 January, Auckland
Second match: New Zealand vs Pakistan, 14 January, Hamilton
Third match: New Zealand vs Pakistan, 17 January, Dunedin
Fourth match: New Zealand vs Pakistan, 19 January, Christchurch
Fifth match: New Zealand vs Pakistan, 21 January, Christchurch.
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