Pakistan cricket teams head coach and chief selector, Misbah-ul-Haq onMonday named 22 probables for the ODI and T20I series against Zimbabwe,insisting he has opted for experience in the 50-over matches and providedextended run to the youngsters in the T20I format.
“The probables named for the series are a mixture of experience and youth,keeping an eye on future of Pakistan cricket“, Misbah told newsmen here ata press conference at Gadaffi stadium.
Pakistan have not played ODIs since the home series against Sri Lanka 12months ago and the Rawalpindi matches will be part of ICC Men’s CricketWorld Cup Super League from which the seven top-ranked sides, apart fromhosts India, will qualify directly for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023.
For the Lahore T20Is, the selectors have preferred continuity andconsistency, while acknowledging the just concluded National T20 Cup hadprovided some exciting talent, which will be considered for the Pakistanand Shaheens’ next month tour to New Zealand and early next year’s homeT20Is, he said.
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“The selectors have rewarded Central Punjab’s Abdullah Shafiq with acall-up after the 20-year-old former Pakistan U19 batsman finished as theseventh most successful batsman in the National T20 Cup with 358 runs witha strike-rate of over 133. Abdullah scored a century on his T20 debut,becoming only the second player in history to make a century on bothfirst-class and T20 debuts”, said the chief selector.
Shoaib Malik, who was player of the final, has made way for AbdullahShafiq, while Rohail Nazir has been named as Mohammad Rizwan’s back-upwicketkeeper. Sarfaraz Ahmed, who was part of the squad for the Englandtour, has been encouraged to feature in the first-class Quaid-e-AzamTrophy, starting 25 October, so that he rediscovers better form ahead ofthe New Zealand tour.
Fast bowlers Hasan Ali and Naseem Shah were not considered for selection asthey are recovering from injuries, but have been advised to play in theQuaid-e-Azam Trophy to prove their fitness before they are considered forselection.
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Probables:
Batsmen – Abdullah Shafiq, Abid Ali, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali,Haris Sohail, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah and Mohammad Hafeez
Wicketkeepers – Mohammad Rizwan and Rohail Nazir
Spinners – Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Usman Qadir and Zafar Gohar
Fast bowlers – Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Musa Khan,Shaheen Shah and Wahab Riaz