Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), on Monday (June 4), announced the T20I squad for the upcoming two-match series against Scotland. It’s the same squad which beat the West Indies in April, with the exception of Babar Azam, who fractured his left hand while batting in the opening Test at Lord’s, against England. The injured Azam has been replaced by Haris Sohail.
The national selection committee, chaired by Inzamam ul Haq, confirmed the squad after consultation with skipper Sarfraz Ahmed and coach Mickey Arthur, according to the PCB.
Azam has been a prolific run-getter in the shortest format of the game for Pakistan. His batting average, which stands at an impressive 53, is the highest among all international players who have played at least 20 matches. But while his absence isn’t ideal, it does provide an opportunity to Haris Sohail who is yet to get a proper run in the T20I outfit.
Squad: Fakhar Zaman, Ahmed Shehzad, Haris Sohail, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Sarfraz Ahmed (c and wk), Fahim Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Rahat Ali, Usman Shinwari, Shaheen Shah Afridi
The left-handed batting all-rounder has shown some promise this year, with consecutive fifties in the only two ODIs he played against New Zealand in January, although he couldn’t produce anything of note during the T20Is on that tour.
With much sterner tests ahead in the form of a Twenty20 tri-series involving Australia and Zimbabwe in July, this is a nearly full-strength Pakistan outfit which would hope to make the most of the two T20Is against Scotland. They also have a proud record to protect – of sweeping every single series since the World T20 in 2016. The two matches will be played on June 12 and 13 in Edinburgh.
