Cricket / Pakistan announces team for T20 World Cup, Afridi returns

Cricket | The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the national team for the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2022 to be held in Australia today i.e. on Thursday, 15 September. Under the leadership of Babar Azam, the board has announced its 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup 2022. The squad also included fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, who was ruled out of the 2022 Asia Cup due to injury. Apart from this, Shan Masood, who performed brilliantly in domestic cricket, has also been given a chance in the team.

Shan Masood is yet to make his T20 International debut. On the other hand, Haider Ali has been selected in the team, who last played for the team in December 2021. However, Fakhar Zaman has been kept with the reserve players. Shan Masood has been rewarded for his good performance in the T20 Blast and will play for Pakistan for the first time in a T20 match. Earlier he has represented Pakistan in ODIs and Tests.

Haider Ali has got a place in the team in place of Fakhar Zaman. This year of Zaman has been very bad with the bat. There were also reports that Fakhar was suffering from injury. The left-handed batsman has scored 96 runs in seven T20Is at an average of 13.71. Shaheen is undergoing rehabilitation in London due to a knee injury and is expected to resume bowling next month ahead of the tournament in October. The same team will also play a tri-series in New Zealand before the T20 World Cup, which also includes Bangladesh.

Pakistan T20 World Cup squad: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Usman Qadir

Reserves: Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Haris, Shahnawaz Dahani