Babar, Rizwan snubbed
\nSalman Ali Agha retained as skipper; Hasan Nawaz and Sahibzada Farhan also included in team
\n LAHORE
\nThe Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday announced a 17-member Green Shirts\u2019 squad for the upcoming UAE tri-series and Asia Cup 2025.
\nAll-rounder Salman Ali Agha has been retained as captain of the 17-member squad.
\nSenior players Fakhar Zaman, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Haris Rauf are part of the lineup, while youngsters Saim Ayub, Khushdil Shah, and Hussain Talat have also been included.
\nThe squad further features Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jr, and Mohammad Haris, along with Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, and Hasan Nawaz. Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Mirza, and Sufyan Moqim.
\nThe tri-series, featuring Pakistan, Afghanistan, and hosts UAE, will be played in Sharjah from August 29 to September 7. Following that, the Asia Cup 2025 is scheduled to take place in Abu Dhabi and Dubai from September 9 to 28.
\n\u201cThis is the same group that is playing, hopefully these players who are playing will do well in the future too,\u201d PCB\u2019s Director High Performance Aqib Javed said during the press conference.
\n\u201cThere is continuity in the players from the three series. Our focus is on winning at the moment and continuity for that, the team is playing well in T20I,\u201d Javed said.
\nOn Salman Mirza\u2019s inclusion in the team, the former cricketer credited his performance in Bangladesh.
\n\u201cThe player who performs will play, he should play,\u201d Javed remarked.
\n\u201cSahibzada Farhan has made a comeback in the team, Aqib Javed Saim has also improved his performance.
\n\u201cThe player who performs will play [for the team],\u201d he stressed.
\nOn the exclusion of star player Babar Azam and ODI captain Mohammad Rizwan, Javed said: \u201cWe cannot say that we will never consider Babar and Rizwan. The current players have been given a chance, Babar and Rizwan have a chance to come back\u201d.
\n\u201cThe seniors now have a chance to play in the Big Bash, only those who perform well will be included in the team,\u201d he added.
\nMeanwhile, expressing his views, Pakistan\u2019s white-ball head coach Mike Hesson, while reflecting on Babar\u2019s performance in the recent West Indies series, said that the star player played well in the first match.
\n\u201cIt is a tough decision to judge a player\u2019s form based on three matches. He [Babar] has been asked to improve in some areas,\u201d Hesson said.
\n\u201cIf Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan play like the others,they will definitely play T20Is. No one has a problem with them. However, we have good options at the moment,\u201d the coach noted.
\n17-member squad: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicket-keeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Waseem Jr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Sufyan Moqim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Babar, Rizwan snubbed Salman Ali Agha retained as skipper; Hasan Nawaz and Sahibzada Farhan also included in team LAHORE The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday announced a 17-member Green Shirts\u2019 squad for the upcoming UAE tri-series and Asia Cup 2025. All-rounder Salman Ali Agha has been retained as captain of the 17-member squad. Senior […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":497354,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-497329","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n