After Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) picked the star-studded Asia XI squad, the Faf du Plessis-led World XI squad was also announced on Tuesday, February 25.
The 15-man squad includes four West Indies, three England and two players each from South Africa and New Zealand. Andrew Tye is the only Australian in the side.
As reported earlier, no Pakistan player has been included in the Asia XI squad. The BCCI Joint Secretary Jayesh George had told IANS that Pakistan players wouldn’t be invited for the T20I series against World XI.
“What we are aware of is that there will be no Pakistan players in the Asia XI. That is what the message is, so there is no question of both countries coming together or picking one over the other,” he had said.
But the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had clarified that it wasn’t about BCB picking BCCI over PCB. Actually, it was the case of the Pakistan players being unavailable for the World T20I series as they would be busy playing in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2020.
“The T20Is between World XI and Asia XI were scheduled from March 16-20, while the PSL 2020 is likely to end on March 22. Since dates of both the series couldn’t be changed, we offered our regrets to the BCB, both verbally and in writing, which they understood and accepted,” a PCB spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Tom Moody has been assigned as the coach of World XI squad.
Here’s the World XI squad to face Asia XI:
Alex Hales, Chris Gayle, Faf du Plessis (c), Nicholas Pooran, Ross Taylor, Jonny Bairstow, Kieron Pollard, Adil Rashid, Sheldon Cottrell, Lungi Ngidi, Andrew Tye, Mitchell McClenaghan.
