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The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), on Monday, announced the Pakistan Men’s squad for the forthcoming One-Day International (ODI) series against West Indies, starting June 08 in Rawalpindi.
All-rounder Shadab Khan has returned to the ODI outfit and taken back the vice-captain position after successfully recovering from injury. Likewise, top-order batter Abdullah Shafique and left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz have been called up for the three-match series against the Caribbeans.
Notably, the likes of Asif Afridi, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Saud Shakeel and Usman Qadir, who were all part of the 21-man squad in Pakistan’s previous series against Australia at home in March-April earlier this year, have been excluded from the line-up.
“As the ODIs against the West Indies are part of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 qualification, we have decided to give the best chance to our side to collect maximum points and strengthen our chances of progressing directly for the pinnacle 50-over tournament,” said chief selector Muhammad Wasim in an official statement.
“We have retained the same core of players, so they further establish themselves in the format. I hope this bunch will continue the form they gained from the Australia series. For the Australia ODIs, we had also announced backup players as cover to those players who were carrying injuries. Players such as Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan are now fully fit, which has allowed us to leave out Asif Afridi and Usman Qadir. However, Usman, along with Asif Ali and Haider Ali, remain in our plans for the shortest format as we have a series of T20Is lined up this year, including the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022,” he added.
Here is Pakistan Squad for West Indies ODIs:
Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan (vc), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Junior, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani and Zahid Mahmood.
