Pakistan announces 15-man squad for T20 World Cup 2022: Star pacer returns along with Shan Masood
With not much time left until the Twenty20 World Cup 2022, all teams are revealing their squads that will compete in the mega event in October. T20 World Cup will start on October 16 with a total of 12 teams playing in the competition. The defending champions, Australia, will defend their title at home.
On Thursday, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced their 15-member squad for the upcoming event. Looking at the squad, there are a few names that were not there in the recently concluded Asia Cup. Although most of the players are from the same squad.
But their ace pacer, Shaheen Afridi, has made his comeback after an injury along with Mohammad Wasim Jr, who also missed the Asia Cup. But one more name that was expected is also in the team, which is Shan Masood. Notably, Fakhar Zaman has suffered an injury and is not part of the squad.
Although he is on the list of reserve players, Shan has replaced him in the team. Interestingly, the middle order that failed in the last tournament has retained their place in the team. The likes of Asif Ali, Khusdil Shah, and Iftikhar Ahmed are in the squad.
𝗣𝗮𝗸𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻'𝘀 𝘀𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮 𝗧𝟮𝟬 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝗽 🙌
— Cricket Pakistan (@cricketpakcompk) September 15, 2022
Shan Masood named ahead of Fakhar Zaman, who is in travelling reserves 👏
Read more: https://t.co/lu0p2VvByt#T20WorldCup #PakistanCricket pic.twitter.com/DqcGa8LDaT
Despite performing well in the Asia Cup, Shahnawaz Dahani is also part of the reserve players. Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, and Mohammad Hasnain have also retained their places. Both spin-bowling all-rounders, Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz, will be doing the spinner's role along with Usman Qadir.
The biggest names who did not make the trip to Australia are veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik and former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed. There was some speculation that they might get a chance on the team.
Squad for T20 World Cup: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan (Vc), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Shaheen Shah Afridi, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Haider Ali, Shan Masood, Iftikhar Ahmed, Naseem Shah, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Usman Qadir
Reserve: Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Haris (wk), Shahnawaz Dahani