Pakistan Omit Shafiq, Amir, Malik for NZ Tour

Qadir and Shah included

Babar Azam Quinton de Kock Pakistan vs South Africa

Batsman Asad Shafiq has been excluded from an extended squad for Pakistan's tour of New Zealand later this year.

Seamer Mohammad Amir and former captain Shoaib Malik have also been omitted from the 35-man squad.

Leg-spinner Usman Qadir, whose debut international series yielded eight wickets in three T20Is against Zimbabwe recently, has been included.

“There are three major omissions from the side that toured England. Asad has been left out due to lack of form after he managed 510 runs in his last 15 innings, including a total of 67 runs in England,” said head coach Misbah-ul-Haq.

“Asad is an experienced batsman and I am sure he will utilise this time to work harder on his game in the domestic first-class matches so that he, like Sarfaraz Ahmed, can reclaim his form and be back in contention for the upcoming Tests against South Africa and Zimbabwe.

“Shoaib and Amir are not part of the white-ball matches as for this tour we have opted to invest, develop and focus on the promising and emerging players who are likely to be available to Pakistan for all formats.

“We have kept faith in Mohammad Hafeez and Wahab Riaz purely on the basis of their outstanding and consistent performances as well as the value they bring to the T20I squad.”

Pakistan's Test and T20I Rankings

Pakistan currently occupy fifth position in the International Cricket Council's Test Championship. New Zealand are in fourth position. In the ICC's rankings for T20I teams, Pakistan and New Zealand are in fourth and sixth position, respectively.

“The matches in New Zealand are critical for us as we aim to improve our T20I rankings and also gain valuable points in the ICC World Test Championship,” added Misbah.

“In this background and taking into consideration recent player performances, we have selected the best available players.”

New Zealand and Pakistan will contest two Tests and three T20Is across December 2020 and January 2021.

Pakistan Squad for New Zealand Series

  • Babar Azam (captain)
  • Abid Ali
  • Abdullah Shafique
  • Fakhar Zaman
  • Imam-ul-Haq
  • Shan Masood
  • Zeeshan Malik
  • Azhar Ali
  • Danish Aziz
  • Fawad Alam
  • Haider Ali
  • Haris Sohail
  • Hussain Talat
  • Iftikhar Ahmed
  • Imran Butt
  • Khushdil Shah
  • Mohammad Hafeez
  • Mohammad Rizwan
  • Rohail Nazir
  • Sarfaraz Ahmed
  • Imad Wasim
  • Shadab Khan
  • Usman Qadir
  • Yasir Shah
  • Zafar Gohar
  • Amad Butt
  • Faheem Ashraf
  • Haris Rauf
  • Mohammad Abbas
  • Mohammad Hasnain
  • Mohammad Musa
  • Naseem Shah
  • Shaheen Afridi
  • Sohail Khan
  • Wahab Riaz

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Jonhenry dedicates his global gaming knowledge to the iGaming industry. He produces content about cricket, in addition to playing and training.