New Delhi: Pakistan named their 15-man squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup on Sunday, a day after board chairman Mohsin Naqvi threatened boycott in solidarity with the replaced Bangladesh.
Salman Ali Agha will lead the team in the tournament, which begins on February 7, with Pakistan playing all their matches in Sri Lanka in a previously hybrid model for not willing to travel to primary hosts India.
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Mohishin Naqvi had questioned the International Cricket Council‘s decision to invite Scotland to replace Bangladesh for refusal to play their three group games in India.
Bangladesh had refused to fly to India citing security concerns after their seamer Mustafizur Rahman was dropped from IPL side KKR at the behest of the BCCI.
Pakistan had offered to host Bangladesh’s matches and had backed their claims of shifting matches to Sri Lanka. But ICC turned down that proposal and dropped them for Scotland.
Naqvi had backed Bangladesh’s claim and blamed ICC for “double standards”, adding that Pakistan’s availability depends on clearance from their government.
But at a press conference at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, the team was announced in the presence of Agha, PCB’s high performance director and member of men’s national team selection committee Aqib Javed, and white-ball head coach Michael James Hesson.
No major surprises
The chosen squad hardly had any surprises as the set of players who are about to face Australia in a a T20 series at home next week are part of it.
Only seamer Mohammad Wasim junior has been dropped from the squad for the Australia series that begins on January 29 in Lahore.
Two specialist spinners Abrar Ahmed and Usman Tariq, were included apart from spin bowling all-rounders Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan and Saim Ayub.
Hard hitter Khawaja Nafay, skipper Agha, along with Faheem Ashraf, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Sahibzada Farhan and Usman Tariq will play in the tournament for the first time.
Experience will be provided by Abrar, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan and Usman Khan, who all have played in at least one or more editions of the tournament since 2021.
Clubbed in Group A, Pakistan begin campaign against the Netherlands on February 7 in Colombo.
Pakistan squad:
Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wk) and Usman Tariq.