The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Tuesday that Shaheen Shah Afridi will be captain of the team for the T20I series against New Zealand that will start in early January.
Shaheen Afridi’s first job as full-time T20I captain will be to lead the team in a series in New Zealand starting on January 12. This is just a few days after the third and final Test of the ICC World Test Championship series against Australia.
All-rounder Shadab Khan, who was vice captain of the T20I team in last year’s Men’s T20 World Cup, will not be able to play in the series because he is hurt.
“Shadab Khan is a very important member of Pakistan T20 cricket. Unfortunately, he suffered an ankle injury (during the National T20) and requires 2 further weeks of rehab. After that, he’ll be available to bowl,” chief selector Wahab Riaz said while announcing the squad regarding Shadab’s absence.
The team had as many as three wicketkeepers, so a lot of new players got to play.
Wahab Riaz picked out Azam Khan, one of the three wicketkeepers, to say something special.
“We have watched Azam Khan very closely. At times, you have to prefer skill over fitness. If a player can win you a match, that’s more important than anything else,” Riaz said.
The chief selector says that the batter with a big-hitting will get a run at the No. 6 spot.
The other wicketkeeper on the team is Haseebullah Khan, who is twenty years old and did very well in the Pakistan Super League.
Mohammad Hasnain, Naseem Shah, and Ihsanullah, three fast bowlers, were not considered because they are still getting better.
Pakistan squad: Shaheen Afridi (c), Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Haseebullah Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Aamer Jamal, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Mohammad Nawaz, Abrar Ahmed, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf and Zaman Khan.
