<\/p>\n
LAHORE: Creating back-ups ahead of next year\u2019s T20 World Cup is a priority for Pakistan\u2019s selectors and they have named the team\u2019s squad for the upcoming five-match series against New Zealand accordingly.<\/p>\n
The series, which runs from Jan 12-21, will mark the commencement of Pakistan\u2019s build-up to the showpiece tournament \u2014 set to be held in the United States and the West Indies in June 2024 \u2014 and pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi\u2019s first assignment as the national side\u2019s new T20I captain.<\/p>\n
The 17-member roster announced on Tuesday was ripe with the names of a number of players who have performed notably well in the domestic circuit as well as the HBL Pakistan Super League over the last two to three years.<\/p>\n
\u201cPakistan has struggled with backups in recent years,\u201d chief selector Wahab Riaz, accompanied by consultant member Kamran Akmal, told reporters during a press conference here at the Gaddafi Stadium. \u201cKeeping the T20 World Cup in mind, we want to test some of our players and see where they stand.\u201d<\/p>\n
The likes of wicket-keepers Azam Khan and Haseebullah Khan and batter Sahibzada Farhan have been rewarded for their impactful performances in the recently-concluded the National T20 Cup and the last season of the PSL.<\/p>\n
The trio poses direct competition to Pakistan opening mainstays Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam, who boast an impressive record in the format but have come under fire numerous times for their approach towards T20 batting.<\/p>\n
Rizwan and former skipper Babar will still get chances to prove their mettle in the New Zealand series, an advantage the latter\u2019s ex deputy Shadab Khan will miss out on due to being left out of the squad following an ankle injury.<\/p>\n
Leg-spinner Usama Mir \u2014 who also has the capability to hit some lusty blows with the bat \u2014 therefore, will be in the position to capitalise on Shadab\u2019s absence. The all-rounder, however, remains in Pakistan\u2019s long-term T20 plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cShadab Khan is a vital member of Pakistan\u2019s T20 setup and a white ball specialist,\u201d said Wahab. \u201cUnfortunately, he twisted his ankle during the domestic season and he still needs two weeks to recover.\u201d<\/p>\n
Abrar Ahmed, meanwhile, adds up to the spin bowling options along with all-rounders Iftikhar Ahmed and Mohammad Nawaz \u2014 both seasoned members of the Pakistan T20 team.<\/p>\n
With their pace battery depleted by the unavailability of Naseem Shah and a number of back-ups in Mohammad Hasnain and Ihsanullah, the Pakistan selectors opted to call-up Abbas Afridi, the highest wicket-taker in the last edition of the PSL.<\/p>\n
The right-armer will add variation to his faster colleagues in Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jr. and Zaman Khan under attack leader and skipper Shaheen. Aamer Jamal, who picked up a five-wicket haul against Australia in the recently-concluded first Test, has also been called up as a fast-bowling all-rounder option.<\/p>\n
HARIS AXED<\/strong><\/p>\n The inclusion of Azam and Haseebullah in the squad saw Mohammad Haris lose his place for no clear reason.<\/p>\n The flamboyant right-hander<\/a>, who plays in the top-order and was crucial in Pakistan\u2019s run to the final of the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia<\/a>, performed way better than Haseebullah in the National T20 Cup.<\/p>\n Wahab clarified that Haris was only \u201crested\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cHe is part of our plans going forward but to increase our player pool and reward the domestic performers we havde decided to rest him,\u201d said the former pacer.<\/p>\n Azam, meanwhile, has been identified as a potential solution to Pakistan\u2019s finishing problems down the order. The number six position in the batting order has been occupied by several players, including Iftikhar, but none have been able to tighten their grip on the role.<\/p>\n The burly Azam turned out to be a serial match-winner in the slot for Karachi Whites, who claimed the National T20 Cup title earlier this month.<\/p>\n \u201cAzam has proven his mettle time and again in PSL and domestic cricket,\u201d said Wahab. \u201cHe has also worked considerably on his fitness.\u201d<\/p>\n Wahab was confident Pakistan would pose a tough challenge to the New Zealanders despite having a fairly inexperienced squad.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we should have faith in the ability of our boys to deliver on this tour,\u201d he said. \u201cThis will boost their confidence and eventually allow them to play better cricket.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should not have any fear of failure.\u201d<\/p>\n The New Zealand tour will be preceded by a six-day training camp here at the National Cricket Academy from Dec. 28 to Jan. 3.<\/p>\n As many as nine players other than the ones named in the squad have been invited to attend the camp, the most prominent being Ahmed Shehzad, who recently expressed dejection for not being picked by any of the PSL sides in the draft for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n Other than Ahmed, Haris, Karachi Whites leg-spinner Arif Yaqoob, Peshawar pacer Mohammad Imran, Lahore Whites pacer Mohammad Amir Khan, Abbotabad opener Sajjad Ali Jr, his team-mate and National T20 Cup\u2019s highest wicket-taker Shahab Khan, Kamran Ghulam and Karachi Whites\u2019 Omair Bin Yousuf will attend the camp.<\/p>\n Squad: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Haseebullah Khan, Azam Khan, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Aamer Jamal, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Nawaz, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim, Usama Mir, Zaman Khan<\/p>\n Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2023<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" LAHORE: Creating back-ups ahead of next year\u2019s T20 World Cup is a priority for Pakistan\u2019s selectors and they have named the team\u2019s squad for the upcoming five-match series against New Zealand accordingly. The series, which runs from Jan 12-21, will mark the commencement of Pakistan\u2019s build-up to the showpiece tournament \u2014 set to be held […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2023\/12\/6582006b4eee3.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}