Pakistan cricket selectors Thursday announced national squads for the upcoming home series against the West Indies as well as the U19 Asia Cup and the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup West Indies 2022.
The three T20I and three ODI series against the West Indies will be held in Karachi from 13-22 December with the 20-over matches to count towards the ICC T20I Rankings and the 50-over games will be part of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League.
Babar Azam has been retained as Pakistan captain for the white-ball matches against the West Indies with Shadab Khan as his vice-captain.
From the 18 men’s players who were part of the recently-concluded T20I series against Bangladesh, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Shoaib Malik have been left out, while fast bowler Mohammad Hasnain has been added to the 15-man squad.
Likewise, from the 17 players who were available for selection for the England ODIs in July, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah and Mohammad Wasim Jnr have replaced Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Salman Ali Agha and Sarfaraz Ahmed in the 17-member side, while Abdullah Shafique has been named as a traveling reserve.
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.”
Pakistan men’s squads
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).