Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shoaib Malik were eliminated as a Pakistani squad for the West Indies series
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Thursday the T20I and ODI squads for the home series against the West Indies, which will be played in Karachi from December 13th.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Thursday the T20I and ODI squads for the home series against the West Indies, which will be played in Karachi from December 13th. Of the 18 players who were part of the recently concluded T20I series against Bangladesh, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Shoaib Malik are missing, while fast bowler Mohammad Hasnain has been added to the 15-man squad. Likewise, of the 17 players who were eligible for the English ODIs in July, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah and Mohammad Wasim Jnr Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Salman Ali Agha and Sarfaraz Ahmed in the 17th , while Abdullah Shafique was named as a traveling reserve.
"Since we've been playing T20Is since October and now have a fairly even and balanced team, we decided to reduce the number of players to 15. So we didn't include Imad Wasim, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Shoaib Malik," said Chief Selector Muhammad Wasim in a PCB version.
“For the ODIs, which we last played in July, we accepted the team leader's request and made two additional resources available to them. "In consultation with Hasan Ali and considering that he has been playing cricket continuously since his return from a back injury, we decided to give him time off from this series," he added.
The 20-over games count towards the ICC T20I leaderboard, while the 50-over games are part of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League.
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"We have been playing T20Is since October and now have a pretty even and balanced team so we decided to pause Imad, Sarfaraz and Malik," Wasim said in a press release from the Pakistan Cricket Board.
Young fast bowler Mohammad Hasnain returns to the squad after missing the Twenty20 World Cup and series in Bangladesh.
West Indies will play three Twenty20 internationals (December 13, 14 and 16), followed by an equal number of one-day internationals (December 18, 20 and 22), all in Karachi.