Sports
ICC Men's T20 World Cup: PCB announces squad, drops Sarfraz
Lahore: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Monday announced the 15-player squad for the upcoming Twenty20 Internationals against New Zealand and England, and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021. However, Sarfraz Ahmad have been dropped.
As per details, the seven home T20Is will be played in Lahore and Rawalpindi starting September 25 to October 14.
The 15-player squad includes five batters including Asif Ali, Babar Azam, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez and Sohaib Maqsood.
The squad include two wicketkeeper-batters, Azam Khan and Mohammad Rizwan and four all-rounders including Imad Wasim, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr and Shadab Khan.
The four fast bowlers that are included in the squad are Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Hasnain and Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Following this Pakistan will proceed to take on India in a battle of former champions in their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup opener in Dubai on 24 October.
In addition, domestic performers Asif Ali and Khushdil Shah have been drafted into the side to provide more firepower in the middle-order.
Asif played his 29th and last T20I for Pakistan against Zimbabwe earlier in April and averages 16.38 with a strike-rate of 123.74, while his overall strike-rate in T20 cricket stands at 147. While, Khushdil Shah’s ninth and last T20I was against South Africa in Lahore earlier this year averages more than 21 and holds a strike-rate of 109.24, while his overall T20 strike-rate stands at 134.
Green shirts’ 19 players were part of the Pakistan squad for the T20I series in England and the West Indies. However, Arshad Iqbal, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Sharjeel Khan and Usman Qadir have been left out. Whereas, Fakhar and Usman along with Shahnawaz Dahani have been named as the three traveling reserves.