In an attempt to regain ground ahead of the World Cup, Pakistan’s spinning all-rounder Shadab Khan was left out of a 17-man roster revealed on Tuesday for the Twenty20 internationals in New Zealand.
Before hurting his ankle in a domestic tournament in November, Shadab had only two wickets and 121 runs from six World Cup (50 overs) matches in India.
Chief selector Wahab Riaz announced the team and stated, “We want to build a good back-up for the Twenty20 World Cup, so we have given chances to players who have done well in the domestic tournament.”
In June of the following year, the United States and the West Indies would host the Twenty20 World Cup.
Following Pakistan’s elimination from the 50-over World Cup, Babar Azam resigned as captain of the team in all three forms, and fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi will lead the team going forward.
January 12 in Auckland, January 14 in Hamilton, January 17 in Dunedin, and January 19 and 21 in Christchurch are the dates of the five-match New Zealand series.
Haseebullah Khan, a batsman and wicketkeeper, Abbas Afridi, a fast bowler, and two spinners who have never participated in a Twenty20 international match: Abrar Ahmed and Usama Mir.
Having been the best scorer in the last three national Twenty20 competitions, Sahibzada Farhan, who participated in three T20 internationals in 2018, is granted a recall.
Azam Khan, who has performed admirably at the local level but poorly in the five T20 internationals he has played in the past two years, is also called up.
Captain Shaheen Shah Afridi, 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, and Zaman Khan comprise the squad.