The Pakistan Cricket Team arrived in Bangladesh, Dhaka on 13th November for their upcoming T20I and Test series versus the Tigers. After the men in green curled up their T20 World Cup 2021 journey with a loss versus Australia in the semifinal, they headed towards Bangladesh with heavy hearts and high heads following their unbeaten T20 WC campaign.
It is pertinent to mention that the series between the two nations will kick-start by 19th November. According to sources, the team's captain, Babar Azam, and the veteran player, Shoaib Malik will join the squad in Dhaka on 16th November.
Imran Butt, Haris Rauf, Shahnawaz Dahani and, Yasir Shah have been excluded. Yasir could no longer serve following his injury whereas, Haris, Dahani are asked to join Domestic cricket tournaments to prepare for the Australia series next year in March
The opener Imam-ul-Haq, who has been consistently performing in PCB's domestic circuit, is re-added to the squad after a long gap. Also, off-spinner Bilal Asif and middle-order batter Kamran Ghulam have received a call-up to the Test squad.
Pakistan Test squad for Bangladesh series:
Squad: Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain), Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Abdullah Shafique, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Bilal Asif, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Saud Shakeel, Zahid Mahmood.
Pakistan T20I squad for Bangladesh series:
Earlier this week, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) named the unchanged squad to undergo the T20I series. Mohammad Hafeez, however, has opted out of the tour who requested the board to alter his place with the youngsters.
Iftikhar Ahmed has been added as a new face to the T20I crew to tackle middle-order woes alongside Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, and Asif Ali. Notably, the red-ball squad is yet to be revealed.
It is assumed that the players of the T20 WC squad, who were not given chance to play throughout the event, will encounter the T20I. Mohammad Rizwan, the wicketkeeping batter is likely to be rested as Mohammad Sarfaraz is set to replace him.
Squad: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Shoaib Malik, Usman Qadir
