Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the white-ball squads for the team’s tour of Australia next month, with Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi making a comeback after being left out of the last two Tests of the home series against England.
After losing the first Test, Pakistan made a remarkable comeback to win the next two matches and clinch the series 2-1.
Following the victory, Pakistan named the T20I and ODI squads for their tour of Australia, beginning with the first ODI on November 4 in Melbourne. The three-match ODI series will be followed by three T20Is.
Speaking about the squad and the new list of centrally-contracted players, former Pakistan batsman Basit Ali said the selection mirrors India’s approach.
“The squads are good, except 3-4 names. Lekin pehli baar nazar aaya ke India ki copy ki gayi hai (for the first time it was seen that India’s approach has been copied). It’s not a bad thing, it’s a good copy,” said Basit in a video on his YouTube channel, without elaborating on that.
King is Back | Fakhar Zaman Ki Hui Jeet | Basit Ali
The PCB also simultaenously announced the white-ball squads for the series in Zimbabwe after the Australia tour. .
The two notable absentees in the squads are senior players Fakhar Zaman and Shadab Khan, while wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan has been appointed as the new white-ball skipper. Rizwan will be rested for the T20Is in Zimbabwe where Salman Agha will replace him as the captain.
However, Shadab has retained his central contract but Zaman is out of that list as well, possibly as a result of his social media post in support of Babar Azam before the Test series again England. The PCB had issued a show-cause notice to Zaman after that.
“Mazak Cup ki performance pe central contract diye gaye hain. Nobody will (dare) say that,” said Basit about the domestic Champions Cup ODI tournament, which was organized by the PCB.
He then added a touch of sarcasm related to Babar’s inclusion in the T20I squad, while also poking his former teammate and current PCB selector Aaqib Javed.
“I got a call from Australia, they said we won’t dismiss Babar Azam in T20Is. I got surprised, and asked ‘Why?’. They said Aaqib Javed asked for that,” he said.
“How could you select Babar in the T20 squad! The captain (Rizwan) demanded for it; that’s the truth,” said Basit, while adding that Rizwan must have said, “if no, then I won’t become the captain.”
On the issue of opening batsman Zaman’s exclusion, Basit challenged Babar to come out in the open and stand in support for his teammate, like Zaman did for him when he was dropped from the Test squad.
“Babar sahab, hai himmat? Karo tweet Fakhar ke liye (Babar, do you have the courage to tweet for Fakhar Zaman?)…say Fakhar has been hard done by,” said Basit.
“You don’t have that courage. That guy (Zaman) is out of central contract as well as the team because of you.”
However, Basit predicted that PCB will be left with no choice but to recall Zaman for the Champions Trophy at home next year.
ODI squad vs Australia: Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah (wk), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (c/wk), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha and Shaheen Shah Afridi.
T20I squad vs Australia: Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah, Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan (c/wk), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Omair Bin Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufyan Moqim and Usman Khan.
ODI squad vs Zimbabwe: Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah (wk), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (c/wk), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shahnawaz Dahani and Tayyab Tahir.
T20I squad vs Zimbabwe: Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah (wk), Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Omair bin Yousuf, Qasim Akram, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha (c), Sufyan Moqim, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan.