Pakistan Cricket Board announced 35 members squad against New Zealand
By Rida Zaheer
Babar Azam as captain and player was proven to be a successful person who led his team from the front. The team under his captainship able to won the number of test series. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced a 35-man squad on 10 November 2020 for their upcoming Test and T20I tour of New Zealand. Famous player Yonis Khan was appointed ad batsman couch for this series . The team captain is determined to win the series against Kiwis on their soil for the first time. In the shortest form, leg-spinner Shadab Khan will be Azam’s deputy in New Zealand.
The team includes five uncapped players – Zeeshan Malik, Danish Aziz, Imran Butt, Rohail Nazir and Amad Butt. In recent, the said payers shown excellent performance during cricket trophies recently concluded in Pakistan in recent past. Mohammad Amir, Shoaib Malik and Asad Shafiq are dropped from the squad.
All selection and dropping out of players were made on their good and bad performance, which is really a very encouraging and positive sign of purely believing in merit by President PCB. The board is also striving hard to attract more foreign teams for holding matches in Pakistan. Misbah-ul-Haq, Chief Selector and as Coach is fully focusing in improving upon players performance and skill and determine to bring the team on top ranking. In a statement he, said,
“The matches in New Zealand are critical for us as we aim to improve our T20I rankings and also gain valuable points in the ICC World Test Championship. In this background and taking into consideration recent player performances, we have selected the best available players,”
“I want to congratulate uncapped Amad Butt, Danish Aziz, Imran Butt and Rohail Nazir who have impressed the selectors with their form, technique, temperament and ability to secure places in the 35-player pool,” he added.
Misbah also spoke about the absence of Malik and Amir from the T20I squad stating that the apex board is trying to invest more on emerging players and young talent.
“Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Amir are not part of the white-ball matches as for this tour we have opted to invest, develop and focus on the promising and emerging players who are likely to be available to Pakistan for all formats. We have kept faith in Mohammad Hafeez and Wahab Riaz purely based on their outstanding and consistent performances as well as the value they bring to the T20I squad,” Misbah added further.
Pakistan squad consist of :
Babar Azam (c), Abid Ali, Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Zeeshan Malik, Azhar Ali, Danish Aziz, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Haris Sohail, Hussain Talat, Imran Butt, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Rizwan, Rohail Nazir, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Usman Qadir, Yasir Shah, Zafar Gohar, Amad Butt, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz.
