Pakistan announce squads for limited-overs series against Australia

In what comes as big news, Pakistan have announced their squads for the upcoming limited-overs series against Australia. It is to be noted that Australia are currently touring the country. Both the teams are playing the three-match Test series at the moment.

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After the Test series, the teams will clash in three ODIs and one-off T20I. This limited-overs series starts on March 29. While Australia had announced their limited-overs squads a long time ago, Pakistan announced their ODI and T20I squads on Thursday. Asif Afridi and Mohammad Harris have been named in both the squads.

These two uncapped players have been absolutely sensational in the domestic circuit and thus, have been rewarded with a place in the national side. Harris scored 166 runs in five games during the Pakistan Super League. He was representing Peshawar Zalmi and had a superb strike rate of 186.5 in the 2022 edition.

As for Asif, he took eight wickets in five games for Multan during the PSL 2022. Another important point to be noted is the fact that Mohammad Nawaz has been named in the limited-overs series. He had earlier made himself unavailable during the Test series due to an injury.

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The 20-member ODI squad includes the regular names. Although the 17-member T20I squad consists of the same team, the three players left out for the T20I series are Abdullah Shafique, Imam-Ul-Haq and Saud Shakeel. Muhammad Wasim, who happens to be the chairman of the selection committee, drew light on the inclusion of the two uncapped players, as well as the upcoming limited-overs games.

“I want to congratulate Asif and Haris on their inclusions in squads for the Australia series. This is a reward for their hard work and consistent performances in the domestic circuit. Their selections are also a message for all domestic players that their performances are being followed and whenever an opportunity arises, they will be rewarded with a national team call-up.

Australia are an equally outstanding team in the shorter formats of the game and, as such, we have decided to go with the best available and most experienced players. The four white-ball matches have significant context as the 50-over games count towards the 2023 World Cup qualification and the 20-over will be a repeat of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 semi-final. So, a lot to look-out for when the two sides will compete in coloured kits," said Muhammad Wasim.

ODI squad: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan, Abdullah Shafique, Asif Afridi, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-Ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir

T20I squad: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan, Asif Afridi, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir