Pak vs NZ: Shahid Afridi announces 16-man squad for ODI series

• Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail recalled in squad. 
• Usama Mir called in to replace injured Shadab Khan.
• Uncapped Tayyab Tahir earns his maiden call.

KARACHI: Pakistan’s interim selection committee on Thursday announced a 16-member squad for three-match ODI series against New Zealand to be played in Karachi this month.

Opening batter Fakhar Zaman has been included in the squad after recovering from injury while Haris Sohail has also been recalled for the white-ball series. Haris last played an ODI for Pakistan in October 2020.

Uncapped Tayyab Tahir, who had a great run in domestic tournaments, has earned his maiden call. Usama Mir has also been named in the squad in place of injured Shadab Khan.

“I spoke to Shadab this morning, he wasn’t feeling comfortable due to finger injury, that’s why he is not selected for the series against New Zealand,” said Shahid Afridi while announcing the squad in Karachi.

Afridi said that the selection committee did consult the team management before announcing the squad for the series.

The three-match ODI series will be played in Karachi from January 9-13.

“We asked Babar and Saqlain to give their choice of 16 before finalising this squad, where we felt things can improve, we do hold a discussion on these issues,” Afridi stressed.

“It was an important responsibility for me, there is no dearth of talent in Pakistan and it made me feel good. I am here for a limited time but important was to keep Pakistan’s future in mind,”

“Our mandate was to announce squads for the New Zealand series only but we have made our choices keeping the future in our mind. We have also given importance to performances in domestic cricket,” he concluded.

To a question on players missing domestic season for feign leagues, Afridi said that he is not in favor of letting players go to leagues when the home season is being played. 

He also shared that the players released for Bangladesh Premier League have been asked to return back at least 10 days before start of the Pakistan Super League. 

On Sharjeel Khan's exclusion from the squad, Afridi said that the player was included in the probable list due to his performance in domestic circuit but was not retained in final squad as he did not get green signals from the board on the batter's inclusion.

Squad 

Babar Azam (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Shahnawaz Dahani, Shan Masood, Tayyab Tahir and Usama Mir