For the home series against New Zealand beginning on April 14, Babar Azam rejoined the Pakistani team on Tuesday and will serve as captain of the ODI and T20 teams.
Babar Azam of Pakistan (AP)
In addition to Babar, left-arm bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi also made his first appearance in international cricket since the T20 World Cup in Australia in November.
Shaheen led and bowled the Lahore Qalandars team to their second straight Pakistan Super League championship last month, but he was unable to play in the home Test series against England and then New Zealand due to a knee injury.
Babar, Shaheen, Haris Rauf, Fakhar Zaman, and Muhammad Rizwan were rested by the national selectors for Pakistan’s recent 1-2 loss in a T20I series against Afghanistan in Sharjah.
During the five One Day Internationals and five Twenty20 Internationals against New Zealand, which will be contested at Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Karachi from April 14 to May 7, all five seniors are back in the squad.
In addition, the selectors kept Sam Ayub, a fast bowler, and fast bowlers Ihsanullah and Zaman Khan, who made their international debuts against Afghanistan in Sharjah.
Squads:
Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vc), Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Ihsanullah, Imad Wasim, Muhammad Haris, Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saeem Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, and Zaman Khan are the T20I players.
Babar Azam, Shadab Khan, Abdullah Shafiq, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jr., Naseem Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, and Usama Mir are the players for the one-day internationals. Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, and Tayyab Tahir are reserve players.