BULAWAYO: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the Playing XI for the first T20I of the three-match series against Zimbabwe, scheduled to be played at the Queens Sports Club here on 1 December.
Salman Ali Agha will lead Pakistan as white-ball captain Mohammad Rizwan has been rested for the T20I series against Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, Saim Ayub, who clinched the Player of the Series award during the ODI series, has been added to the T20I squad and will open the innings in the first T20I, the PCB revealed on their social media accounts.
Usman Khan will don the wicket-keeping gloves as Haseebullah Khan, who kept the wickets in the third T20I against Australia, was not included in the line-up.
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Top-order batter Omair Bin Yousuf, middle-order batter Tayyab Tahir and mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed will make their return to the T20I side.
Abbas Afridi, Jahandad Khan and Haris Rauf will make Pakistan’s pace attack against Zimbabwe, while Abrar and Sufiyan Muqeem are two specialist spinners in the line-up.
For the unversed, Pakistan made a resounding comeback to win the ODI series 2-1 after Zimbabwe defeated them in the first ODI by 80 runs in the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) Method.
Pakistan Playing XI: Saim Ayub, Usman Khan (wk), Omair Bin Yousuf, Salman Agha (c), Tayyab Tahir, Irfan Khan, Abbas Afridi, Jahandad Khan, Sufiyan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf.
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