Farhan replaces Agha Salman as T20I captain

From T20 squad, which represented Pakistan in the T20 World Cup held earlier this year, Agha Salman, Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz (who is serving suspension), Usman Tariq, Faheem Ashraf and Shaheen Afridi have been dropped. Those who have been inserted include Arafat Minhas, fast bowler Imran Randhawa, Maaz Sadaqat, Hasan Nawaz, Naseem Shah and young pace-sensation Razaullah.

Farhan has recently captained Pakistan during the 20th. Asian Games in Japan where the Green-shirts finished with silver medal. The ODI squad, meanwhile, will be led as usual by Shaheen Afridi.

Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Nawaz, Razaullah and stumper Saad Baig have been included. Those, who have been dropped from the squad which last played a home series against Australia in May this year Include Maaz Sadaqat, Ahmed Daniyal, Abdul Samad, Sahibzada Farhan, Shamyl Hussain amd Rohail Nazir.

Razaullah, who recently made his fantastic Test debut against England, is also set to make his ODI debut. Fakhar had missed the previous ODI assignment due to fitness issues. The T20I series will be played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, with the opening match scheduled for October 9.

The second and third T20Is will be played on October 11 and 13 respectively. Following the T20I series, Pakistan will feature in a seven-match ODI tri-series alongside England and Sri Lanka. Rawalpindi will host the opening three matches, before the tournament moves to Lahore for the remaining league matches and the final.

Meanwhile a group of Sri Lankan team has already arrived in Islamabad while some players were scheduled to land on Monday and some will arrive on Tuesday. The T2oI series will be an interesting contest and will be only the second time Sri Lanka will be playing a full-fledged T20I series on Pakistani soil.

Pakistan have the upper hand over Sri Lanka in T20Is, winning 18 of their 31 meetings, while Sri Lanka have secured 13 victories. In October 2019, Sri Lanka clean-swept Pakistan 3-0 in Pakistan in a three-match T20I series under the captaincy of Dasun Shanaka, with Sarfaraz Ahmed leading Pakistan.

Sri Lanka have struggled in recent series, apart from their Asian Games campaign, where they were beaten by India in the semi-finals. Sri Lanka lost a three-match series 2-1 to the West Indies in June at the latter’s backyard and were then defeated 3-0 by England in England last month.

This will be Pakistan’s first T20I series since the T20 World Cup, jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka, at the start of this year. Pakistan had clean-swept Australia 3-0 in their last home T20I series, which was held shortly before the T20 World Cup.

Pakistan T20 squad: Sahibzada Farhan (captain), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Arafat Minhas, Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Nawaz, Muhammad Imran Randhawa, Khawaja Nafay (wk), Maaz Sadaqat, Naseem Shah, Razaullah, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Shadab Khan and Sufiyan MoqimODI squad: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wk), Haris Rauf, Hasan Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Razaullah, Saad Baig (wk), Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan and Sufiyan Moqim.

Team Management.

Naveed Akram Cheema (manager), Mike Hesson (head coach), Shaun Tait (bowling coach), Michael Smith (batting coach), Mansoor Amjad (fielding coach), Muhammad Tahir (Physiotherapist), Grant Luden (strength &conditioning coach), Nabeel Edger Pace (team analyst for Sri Lanka T20I), Usman Hashmi (team analyst for tri-series), Shafqat Shabbir (media manager for Rawalpindi-leg and Syed Nazir Ahmed for Lahore-leg), Col. Usman Anwari (security manager), Dr. Wajid Ali Rafai (team doctor) and Muhammad Ehsan (masseur)