ISLAMABAD: The green shirts would face New Zealand in the first contest of the five T20 International match series at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Thursday. Babar Azam would lead the green shirts after replacing Shaheen Shah Afridi who led the team for a brief period as the batting maestro stepped down amid a humiliating defeat in the world cup last year.
The first three matches will be played at Rawalpindi while Lahore will host the last two games.
Meanwhile, Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim who recently took back their decision of retirement, would likely be part of the squad, whereas Haris Rauf would miss the series due to his injury in the PSL a month before.
Pakistan Squad: Babar Azam (c), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Amir, Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Usama Mir, Usman Khan, Zaman Khan.
Non-travelling reserves: Haseebullah Khan, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha.
New Zealand Young Team
The Black Caps would face Pakistan mostly with fresh faces as most of the players are busy in the Indian Premier League including Kim Williamson, Mitchel March, Furgeson etc. However, still it would be an interesting series and a solid preparation ahead of the T20 World Cup to be played in the USA and West Indies in June this year.
