Pakistan T20I squad vs England: Fakhar Zaman, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Wahab Riaz handed comebacks

Pakistan T20I squad vs England: Pakistan have announced a 17-member squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against England.

Pakistan have handed comebacks to senior players in opening batsman Fakhar Zaman, wicket-keeper batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed and fast bowling duo of Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz for their upcoming three-match T20I series against England.

While Ahmed played the last of his 58 T20Is as the captain of Pakistan against Sri Lanka in Lahore last year, the other three players had last played a T20I during Pakistan’s tour of Australia last November.

“Usually, the T20I team comes together for a brief period but due to the current situation most of the players have been here with us for more than a month and it has provided us a good opportunity to work on the development of the team and the young players.

“So, even the players who might not get an opportunity to play will benefit from the experience they are getting here,” Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq said in a statement.

Riaz, 35, who had talked about wanting to pay back via a Test comeback in England, might not have got an opportunity in the red-ball format. However, the experienced campaigner would now be looking to leave a mark in the shortest format at the highest level.

Pakistan T20I squad vs England

In addition to these four tried and tested names, Pakistan have handed maiden T20I call-ups to fast bowler Naseem Shah and uncapped batsman Haider Ali in their 17-member squad.

In nine T20s for Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League earlier this year, 19-year old Ali had scored 239 runs at a strike rate of 158.27 including a half-century against Lahore Qalandars. Shah, on the other hand, has already started to trouble batsmen in Test cricket.

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“This is mostly the same team which has been featuring in the shortest format for us. Besides retaining the core, we have inducted youngsters like Haider Ali, who has performed well in the HBL PSL, U-19 and first-class cricket, and Naseem Shah as we had an opportunity to keep a bigger pool due to Covid-19 pandemic, which also increases our options.

“Our two experienced bowlers in Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz have also returned to the side, along with Fakhar Zaman and Sarfaraz Ahmed,” Misbah said.

Pakistan have left out the likes of opening batsman Ahsan Ali, fast bowler Mohammad Musa and uncapped spinner-duo of Usman Qadir and Amad Butt from their T20I squad which played against Bangladesh at home earlier this year.

Pakistan 17-member squad for T20Is vs England

Babar Azam (c), Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Amir, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shoaib Malik and Wahab Riaz.

No T20I call-up for Shan Masood

Opening batsman Shan Masood, who scored his fourth Test century in the first Test against England, has once again been ignored for the T20I format.

Masood, 31, who has played only five ODIs for Pakistan in white-ball cricket, had top-scored for Multan Sultans in PSL 2020 with 253 runs in nine T20s at an average of 31.62 and a strike rate of 128.42.

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