Wahab Riaz, Pakistan team’s chief selector, has announced a 17-man T20I squad for the coming five-match T20I series against New Zealand, which begins on January 12 in Auckland. Wahab Riaz announced at a press conference in Lahore.
It emphasizes the team’s recognition of Mohammad Haris’ skill set and plan to include him in future endeavors by resting him during this series.
“Mohammad Haris has been rested for this series.” We are aware of his abilities, and he will be a part of our future plans. We wanted to give certain domestic talents in First Class cricket a chance and expand our pool of players, therefore we rested Haris for this tour,” Wahab stated.
Shadab Khan, an integral part of Pakistan’s T20 squad, will, however, miss the series owing to an ankle injury acquired during the National T20. Riaz stated that Khan would require another two weeks of rehabilitation before letting him bowl.
Moreover, Wahab highlighted the need of developing players for slots four through seven in the middle order. Haseebullah’s significant performances in the PSL and white-ball cricket highlighted as he batted in the middle order.
“Haseebullah batted in the middle order in the PSL and has shown a lot of promise in white ball cricket.” In domestic cricket, he opens, but for team adjustment, we need to create players for numbers four through seven. Khushdil Shah, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Shoaib Malik, and Faheem Ashraf all received chances but failed to make an impression, so we’re now in a building phase to determine which players can fit into these places,” Wahab continued.
Squad:
Pakistan announced T20I squad consist of:
Shaheen Afridi (C), Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Shaibzada Farhan, Haseeb Ullah Khan, ifthikar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Amir Jamal, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Waseem Jnr, Mohammad Nawaz, Abrar Ahmed, Usama Mir, Zaman Khan, Haris Rauf.
Three wicketkeepers in Pakistan's T20I squad for New Zealand series#NZvPAK pic.twitter.com/SBV00CkHyk
— Cricket Pakistan (@cricketpakcompk) December 19, 2023
The training camp starts on December 28th at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore and will end on January 3rd. Stay tuned to The Dilect for more updates on this series.
