Former captain Babar Azam has returned to Pakistan’s squad for the Twenty20 World Cup, a day after their cricket board chief cast doubt over the team’s participation in the global showpiece, which begins on February 7.
T20 regular Haris Rauf was dropped from the 15-man squad, led by Salman Ali Agha. It was announced on Saturday despite the uncertainty surrounding Pakistan’s plans for the World Cup.
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Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, also the country’s interior minister, said the PCB was awaiting the government’s permission before confirming the team’s participation after the International Cricket Council (ICC) kicked out Bangladesh over their refusal to play in India.
Hours later, the PCB announced its squad for the tournament
However, chief selector Aaqib Javed said the Pakistani government would make a final call on whether the team would travel to Sri Lanka.
“Our job is to pick the team,” Javed said after naming the squad in Lahore, Pakistan. “We’ve announced the team very close to the deadline.
“The government will decide on our participation, so I can say nothing on that front. That’s what the chairman has said too, so we’ll wait for their decision.”
India will host the majority of the T20 World Cup matches, but Pakistan will play exclusively in Sri Lanka because of the fraught political relations between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Bangladesh have been replaced by Scotland for their refusal to tour India due to safety concerns, which the ICC rejected last week.
In addition to Babar, spin-bowling all-rounder Shadab Khan and fast bowler Naseem Shah have also returned, but there was no place for wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan.
Pakistan’s selectors excluded fast bowler Mohammad Wasim from the 16-member squad announced for next week’s three-match T20 series against Australia in Lahore.
They also continued to ignore Rauf, who hasn’t played since competing in the Asia Cup in September but kept faith with struggling Babar, who scored 202 runs at a strike rate of 103.06 in 11 Big Bash League games while opening the batting for Sydney Sixers.
“We don’t see him opening the batting [at the World Cup],” head coach Mike Hesson said. “He hasn’t opened the batting for us because the ability to attack in the powerplay is very important.”
Hesson said Babar could come in handy on slow pitches in Sri Lanka, where Pakistan are scheduled to play all their games, including the playoffs if they advance in the tournament.
“He [Babar] certainly has the skill to control the middle overs if required and then to feed the strike to certain players,” Hesson said. “If we’re chasing a lower score, he certainly has that ability to control a chase. … The conditions in Australia are significantly different than what we’re going to face in Sri Lanka, so we factored all those things in.”
Hesson said the selectors preferred the three fast bowlers – Shaheen Shah Afridi, Salman Mirza and Naseem Shah – after taking into account their abilities to bowl in all three T20 phases.
With the wickets likely to suit spinners, Pakistan included four spinners: Mohammad Nawaz, Khan, Abrar Ahmed and Usman Tariq.
Pakistan play their opening Group A match against the Netherlands on February 7, followed by matches against the United States (February 10), India (February 15) and Namibia (February 18).
Pakistan squad: Salman Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Nafay (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wicketkeeper), Usman Tariq
