Pakistan's 35-member squad for New Zealand tour announced on November 23 Players in the squad will be available for both the national cricket team and the Pakistan Shaheens 11 NOV, 2020

 

Pakistan's 35-member squad for New Zealand tour announced on November 23

LAHORE: National cricket team head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq has announced a 35-member national squad for the tour of New Zealand. Players in the squad will be available for both the national cricket team and the Pakistan Shaheens. The national squad will leave for Lincoln on November 23. The three-match Twenty20 and two-Test series between Pakistan and New Zealand will run from December 18 to January 7.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Shaheens have to play 2 four-day and 4 T20 matches. New Zealand cricket will soon release the full details of Pakistan Shaheens' tour of New Zealand. The squad includes Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain Test cricket), Shadab Khan (vice-captain T20 International), Azhar Ali, Sarfraz Ahmed (wicket-keeper) Mohammad Hafeez, Fawad Alam, Abid Ali, Abdullah Shafiq, Fakhr Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shaun Masood, Zeeshan Malik, Danish Aziz, Haider Ali, Haris Sohail, Hussain Talat, Imran Butt, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdal Shah, Rohail Nazir (Wicket) Keeper), Emad Wasim, Yasir Shah, Usman Qadir, Zafar Gohar, Emad Butt, Fahim Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Muhammad Abbas, Muhammad Hasnain, Muhammad Musa, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sohail Khan and Wahab Riaz.

Misbah-ul-Haq, head coach and chief selector of the national cricket team, finalized the squad after consulting head coaches of all cricket associations, junior cricket team head coach Ijaz Ahmed and head of international players development Thaqleen Mushtaq. Young batsmen Zeeshan Malik, all-rounder Danish Aziz, batsman Imran Butt and all-rounder Emad Butt, who have excelled in domestic cricket, are part of the squad announced for the tour of New Zealand.

Apart from Usman Qadir and Abdullah Shafiq, wicketkeeper-batsman Rohail Nazir, who was included in the national squad against Zimbabwe, has also been retained in the national squad for the tour of New Zealand. National cricket team chief selector and head coach Misbah-ul-Haq "We have to complete a 14-day quarantine period in New Zealand because of Coveid 19. We have formed a full squad of two different teams for the tour of New Zealand," he said.

Misbah-ul-Haq said that the two Test matches against New Zealand in the ICC World Test Championship are very important for us, hopefully the national players will continue to perform well against New Zealand. The Chief Selector said that he congratulated the young players like Emad Butt, Danish Aziz, Imran Butt and Rohail Nazir for joining the squad for the tour of New Zealand. No one doubted the ability and technical prowess of these players.

He said that these players are the bench strength of the national cricket team and that is why they have been selected like a few other players exclusively for Pakistan Shaheens. Misbah-ul-Haq said that Asad Shafiq was dropped from the squad due to unsatisfactory batting form. Dropped, he has scored only 510 runs in his last 15 innings, of which only 67 runs were scored on the tour of England.

The chief selector and head coach said that Asad Shafiq is an experienced batsman and we want him to perform well in first class cricket and regain his lost form like Cricketer Faraz Ahmed. He said that we have Shoaib Malik. And in place of Mohammad Amir, we have included young players in the squad. We have made this decision keeping in view the schedule of five major events in the next few years, while the reason for retaining Mohammad Hafeez and Wahab Riaz in the squad is their performance. I have continuity.

Misbah-ul-Haq said that three spinners, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan and Zahid Mahmood are performing well in the ongoing domestic cricket season 21-20 in the country. Unfortunately, we have a list of 45 potential players for the tour of New Zealand till October 12. However, the performance of these three players has further expanded the pool of our spin department, which will definitely benefit us in the next series.