Pakistan is shaking things up in its T20I team. They’ve picked Salman Ali Agha as the new captain for the five-match series against New Zealand. In a surprising move, the selection committee has also dropped big names like Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan from the T20I squad. This suggests they’re trying a different approach after Pakistan’s poor showing at the Champions Trophy at home.
Read Also: Team India sports ‘Pakistan’ on their jersey
Mohammad Rizwan became the white-ball captain in October 2024 but is now gone as T20I captain after losing all four matches while he was in charge. He will still lead the ODI team. The choice of Agha, who doesn’t have much experience in international T20 cricket is a bit of a surprise. He’s only played six T20Is scoring 50 runs. But he has led in four matches which seems to have impressed the people making the decisions.
Also, Shaheen Afridi is out of the ODI squad. This is unexpected since he played very well in South Africa and Australia recently taking 15 wickets in six matches. The T20I squad also includes three new players namely Abdul Samad, Hasan Nawaz and Mohammad Ali who will be hoping to make a splash.
Pakistan T20I and ODI Squads for New Zealand Tour
T20I Squad:
Player | Role |
Salman Ali Agha (c) | All-rounder |
Shadab Khan (vc) | All-rounder |
Abdul Samad | Batter |
Abrar Ahmed | Bowler |
Haris Rauf | Bowler |
Hasan Nawaz | Batter |
Jahandad Khan | All-rounder |
Khushdil Shah | Batter |
Mohammad Abbas Afridi | Bowler |
Mohammad Ali | Bowler |
Mohammad Haris | Wicketkeeper-batter |
Muhammad Irfan Khan | Batter |
Omair Bin Yousaf | Batter |
Shaheen Shah Afridi | Bowler |
Sufyan Moqim | Bowler |
Usman Khan | Batter |
ODI Squad:
Player | Role |
Mohammad Rizwan (c) | Wicketkeeper-batter |
Salman Ali Agha (vc) | All-rounder |
Abdullah Shafique | Batter |
Abrar Ahmed | Bowler |
Akif Javed | Bowler |
Babar Azam | Batter |
Faheem Ashraf | All-rounder |
Imam-ul-Haq | Batter |
Khushdil Shah | Batter |
Mohammad Ali | Bowler |
Mohammad Wasim Jnr | Bowler |
Muhammad Irfan Khan | Batter |
Naseem Shah | Bowler |
Sufyan Moqim | Bowler |
Tayyab Tahir | Batter |