Pakistan announce squad for T20 World Cup

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the squad for the T20 World Cup starting from October 17 in the UAE. There are no major surprises in the squad and the core of the team is the same that played against England and West Indies recently. Babar Azam will lead the team in the showpiece event while the likes of Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez are also part of the 15-member squad.

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Meanwhile, Sohaib Maqsood has reaped rewards for a scintillating show in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and will board the flight to the UAE. The middle-order batter was the third-highest run-getter in the tournament with 428 runs at a strike rate of 156.78.

One of the notable omissions from the squad is veteran batsman Shoaib Malik who has not played for Pakistan since September 2020. Malik brings in plenty of experience to the team thus Babar wanted him in the squad but the selectors were not in favour of including him. Also, former skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed has also been axed from the squad after warming the bench for most part of the year.

Pakistan have also named three reserve players - Fakhar Zaman, Shahnawaz Dhani and Usman Qadir, who will travel with the squad. Asif Ali, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Hasnain, Haris Rauf and Azam Khan have also made it to the squad.

The 'Men in Green' are clubbed together with India, New Zealand, Afghanistan and two other qualifying teams and will open their campaign against arch-rivals India in a mouth-watering clash on October 24.

Here’s Pakistan’s squad for T20 World Cup: Babar Azam, Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Azam Khan, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi, Sohaib Maqsood.