LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Friday announced the one-day squad for the three-match series against New Zealand which starts from November 7.
According to the details, the National Selection Committee headed by former captain Inzamamul Haq, after consultations with captain Sarfraz Ahmed and head coach Mickey Arthur, announced a 15-member ODI squad for three matches against New Zealand.
Imad Wasim and Mohammad Hafeez find themselves back in ODI squad after spells of varying lengths out of the side. Hafeez sat out of Pakistan’s five ODIs against Zimbabwe in July and was dropped from the squad for the Asia Cup altogether, while Imad hasn’t played a 50-over international in 2018.
Both of them are part of the squad that will face New Zealand in a three-match ODI series next week, which is otherwise notable for Mohammad Amir’s continued exclusion from the side. His ouster from the one-day setup meaning he has now been dropped from all three formats this month.
Despite their splendid T20I form over the past two years, Pakistan are coming off a disappointing Asia Cup tournament, where they failed to make the final after losing to Bangladesh in a must-win encounter. It was part of a trend of shaky performances throughout the competition in which they were soundly beaten by India twice, and only managed to squeak past Afghanistan in a final-over thriller.
The first two ODIs are to be held in Abu Dhabi on November 7 and 9 while the third will take place in Dubai on November 13.
SQUAD:
Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Sarfraz Ahmed (captain/wicketkeeper), Haris Sohail, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Imad Wasim, Hasan Ali, Junaid Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Shinwari