Seniors given rest as Pakistan announce squads against WI

Shoaib Malik

LAHORE: Experienced cricketers Shoaib Malik and Sarfaraz Ahmed alongside Hasan Ali and Imad Wasim have been dropped from the national squad against West Indies in the home series. 

The team management announced T20I and ODI squads for the home series against West Indies. According to the chief selector, Malik, Imad, and Sarfaraz were dropped from the team as they had to reduce the squad to 15 players. Whereas, Hasan has been given rest due to playing continuous cricket over the past year.

Chief selector Muhammad Wasim: “As we have been playing T20Is since October and now have a pretty settled and balanced side, we have decided to reduce the number of players to 15. As such, we have not included Imad Wasim, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Shoaib Malik.

“For the ODIs, which we last played in July, we have accepted the team management’s request and provided them two additional resources.

“In consultation with Hasan Ali and taking into consideration that he has been playing non-stop cricket since returning from a back injury, we have decided to give him time off from this series.”

T20Is

Babar Azam (captain, Central Punjab)
Shadab Khan (vice-captain, Northern)
Asif Ali (Northern)
Fakhar Zaman (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Haider Ali (Northern)
Haris Rauf (Northern)
Iftikhar Ahmed (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Khushdil Shah (Southern Punjab)
Mohammad Hasnain (Sindh)
Mohammad Nawaz (Northern)
Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Mohammad Wasim Jnr (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Shaheen Shah Afridi (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Shahnawaz Dahani (Sindh)
Usman Qadir (Central Punjab)

ODIs

Babar Azam (captain, Central Punjab)
Shadab Khan (vice-captain, Northern)
Asif Ali (Northern)
Fakhar Zaman (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Haider Ali (Northern)
Haris Rauf (Northern)
Iftikhar Ahmed (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Imam-ul-Haq (Balochistan)
Khushdil Shah (Southern Punjab)
Mohammad Nawaz (Northern)
Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Mohammad Wasim Jnr (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Mohammad Hasnain (Sindh)
Saud Shakeel (Sindh)
Shaheen Shah Afridi (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
Shahnawaz Dahani (Sindh)
Usman Qadir (Central Punjab)

Traveling reserve: Abdullah Shafique (Central Punjab)

Player Support Personnel: Mansoor Rana (manager), Saqlain Mushtaq (interim head coach), Shahid Aslam (assistant to head coach), Cliffe Deacon (physiotherapist), Drikus Saaiman (strength and conditioning coach), Abdul Majeed (fielding coach), Talha Ejaz (team analyst), Col (retd) Muhammad Imran (Security Manager), Ahsan Iftikhar Nagi (media and digital manager), Dr Najeeb Soomro (team doctor) and Malang Ali (Masseur)

Series schedule

13 Dec – 1st T20I, Karachi
14 Dec – 2nd T20I, Karachi
16 Dec – 3rd T20I, Karachi
18 Dec – 1st ODI, Karachi
20 Dec – 2nd ODI, Karachi
22 Dec – 3rd ODI, Karachi