Pakistan ended their red-ball series on a high after Shan Masood led-Pakistan side finally won a Test series at home after a hiatus of almost 4 years.
Last time Pakistan won a Test series was in 2021 when they beat South Africa in a two-match Test series.
Sajid Khan and Nauman Ali were on song and showed great performances both with the bat and ball to make sure Pakistan won a series against England after losing the 1st Test match in Multan.
Now, it is time for the white-ball cricket. Pakistan will be touring Australia and Zimbabwe for the ODI and T20 series. The ODI series will hold much of importance in context of the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy as well.
For this, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have announced new captain, vice captain, and the squads as well.
Mohammad Rizwan will lead the side while Salman Ali Agha will be his deputy.
The series against Australia will begin from 4th November and the team will leave for Australia on 28th of October.
In a conference, the chairman Mohsin Naqvi said that the PCB will be backing Rizwan regardless of the results.
“The PCB has always been fully committed to supporting our players and staff, and we will continue to stand by Rizwan as he takes on this important role. We are optimistic that under his leadership, Pakistan’s white-ball cricket team will once again become a force to be reckoned with on the international stage.”
The squads for the upcoming series are as follows:
ODI Squad for Australia tour: Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah (WK), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi
T20I Squad for Australia tour: Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah, Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Omair Bin Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufyan Moqim, Usman Khan
ODI Squad for Zimbabwe tour: Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah (WK), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shahnawaz Dahani and Tayyab Tahir
T20I Squad Zimbabwe tour: 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, Sufyan Moqim, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan
Besides this, the PCB has announced the new contracts for the players. Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam are the only players to be in A category. Fakhar Zaman has not been given any central contract which is a sign of a worry. Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi demoted to B category while Shan Masood remained in a B category.
List of centrally contracted players:
Category A: Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan
Category B: Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood
Category C: Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel and Shadab Khan
Category D: Aamir Jamal, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Hurraira, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr and Usman Khan.
