Lahore
\nThe Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday announced a 17-man squad for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand, which will take place in January.
\nIn a press release, the PCB said that pace ace Shaheen Shah Afridi would lead the Pakistan squad for the first time.
\nIt said that the series marked the start of Pakistan\u2019s preparations for the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, which is scheduled to take place in June 2024.
\nThe PCB said right-arm pacer Mohammad Abbas Afridi, wicketkeeper-batter Haseebullah and leg-spinner Usama Mir had earned their maiden call-up to the T20I team following \u201ccommendable\u201druns during the domestic season.
\n\u201cSahibzada Farhan, who made his T20I debut for Pakistan in 2018, has also returned to the squad after he impressed with the bat in the National T20 Cup 2023-24,\u201d it said.
\nThe PCB said that uncapped Abrar Ahmed and Azam Khan, who last featured for Pakistan against Afghanistan in March 2023, had also been named in the squad.
\nMeanwhile, Pakistan opted for six pace bowling options by including Aamir Jamal, Zaman Khan, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Abbas Afridi and Shaheen.
\nIt said that Naseem Shah, Ihsanullah and Shadab Khan would not be part of the squad due to injuries.
\n\u201cShan Masood, Mohammad Haris and Faheem Ashraf, who were part of Pakistan\u2019s squad during the last bilateral series, miss out on the tour,\u201d the PCB added.
\nThe cricket board said that Pakistan\u2019s T20I tour of New Zealand would comprise five matches, to be played from January 12 to January 21. It further said that Pakistan would be touring New Zealand immediately after wrapping up the Test tour of Australia.
\nThe press release quoted PCB Chief Selector Wahab Riaz as saying that it was imperative to nurture young talent as they had to represent Pakistan going forward.
\n\u201cThis is the best pool of players but we also want to build back-ups. We have to explore our new talent and see what kind of performances they are capable of producing. Going forward, we need to understand our back-up options in our player pool and promote domestic performers,\u201d he said.
\nHe further said that Mohammad Haris had been rested during this series.
\n\u201cWe are well aware of his capabilities and he is part of our plans going forward. Shan Masood is also part of our plans and likewise has been rested for this series. We will call him up if we require him to fill any gaps in the team,\u201d he said.
\nFull squad: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Aamir Jamal, Abbas Afridi, Azam Khan (wicket-keeper), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah (wicket-keeper), Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Usama Mir and Zaman Khan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lahore The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday announced a 17-man squad for the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand, which will take place in January. In a press release, the PCB said that pace ace Shaheen Shah Afridi would lead the Pakistan squad for the first time. It said that the series marked the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375597,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-375582","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n