Former captain Babar Azam has rejoined Pakistan’s squad for the Twenty20 World Cup, a day after the Pakistan Cricket Board chairman cast doubt on the team’s participation in the global show, which begins on February 7.
T20 regular Haris Rauf has been left out of Salman Ali Agha’s 15-man squad. The announcement was made on Saturday despite uncertainty surrounding Pakistan’s World Cup plans.
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Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who is also the Home Minister, said the PCB is waiting for government permission before confirming the team’s participation after the International Cricket Council (ICC) expelled Bangladesh for refusing to play in India.
A few hours later, the PCB announced the members of the tournament
Chief selector Aaqib Javed, however, said the Pakistan government would take the final decision on whether the team would travel to Sri Lanka.
“Our job is to choose the team,” Javed said after naming the team in Lahore, Pakistan. “We announced the team close to the deadline.
“Our participation is decided by the government, so I can’t say anything about that. The chairman has also said so, so I’ll wait for that decision.”
India will host the majority of the T20 World Cup matches, but Pakistan will play exclusively in Sri Lanka due to strained political relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Bangladesh had refused to visit India citing security concerns, but Scotland replaced them after the ICC refused last week.
Besides Babar, spin bowling all-rounder Shadab Khan and fast bowler Naseem Shah also returned, but there was no place for wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan.
Pakistan’s selection committee has left out fast bowler Mohammad Wasim from the 16-man squad announced for the three-match T20 series against Australia in Lahore next week.
They also continued to ignore Rauf, who has not played since playing in the Asia Cup in September, but kept faith in the struggling Babar, who has scored 202 runs and a strike rate of 103.06 in 11 Big Bash League games as Sydney Sixers’ opening batsman.
“I don’t expect him to be the leadoff hitter (at the World Cup),” head coach Mike Hesson said. “The ability to attack on the power play is very important, so he couldn’t be at bat for us.”
Hesson said Babar could be useful on slower pitches in Sri Lanka, where Pakistan are scheduled to play all their matches, including the play-offs, if they advance in the tournament.
“He (Babar) certainly has the skill to control the middle overs and give strikes to certain players if needed,” Hesson said. “If we’re chasing lower scores, he definitely has the ability to control the speed of the chase. … The conditions in Australia are very different to what we’ll face in Sri Lanka, so we took all that into consideration.”
Hesson said the selectors preferred three fast bowlers – Shaheen Shah Afridi, Salman Mirza and Naseem Shah – considering their ability to bowl in all three phases of T20s.
With the wicket likely to be suitable for spinners, Pakistan had four spinners: Mohammad Nawaz, Khan, Abrar Ahmed and Usman Tariq.
Pakistan will play their first Group A match against the Netherlands on February 7, followed by games against the United States (February 10), India (February 15) and Namibia (February 18).
Pakistan squad: Salman Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Nafai (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wicketkeeper), Usman Tariq
