Pakistan announce squads for South Africa and Zimbabwe tours

Pakistan, on Friday, announced their squads for the forthcoming tour of South Africa and Zimbabwe.  Pakistan are scheduled to play three ODIs and four T20Is against South Africa from April 2 to April 16. Following the tour of South Africa, Pakistan will travel to neighboring Zimbabwe for two Tests and three T20Is.

Pakistan have made two changes to the Test squad that won the series against South Africa at home last month. Leg-spinner Yasir Shah and Kamran Ghulam have missed out while Zahid Mahmood and Shahnawaz Dhani have been added to the squad. Yasir has missed out due to an injury while Ghulam has been left out after he could not make it to the playing eleven during the home series last month.

Both Dhani and Mahmood are yet to make their debuts in Tests. Mahmood has played just one T20I in international cricket so far while Dhani is yet to play a game in international cricket. Both the bowlers recently impressed in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Mahmood picked up six wickets in four games while Dhani picked up 9 wickets in 4 games.

Pakistan’s Test squad

Babar Azam, Imran Butt, Abid Ali, Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, Saud Shakeel, Agha Salman, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Tabish Khan, Hasan Ali, Shahnawaz Dahani, Nauman Ali, Zahid Mehmood, Sajid Khan

Who are in the limited-overs squads?

Pakistan have made a plethora of changes to their limited-overs squads for the upcoming tours. They have dropped as many as seven players from the squad that played against Zimbabwe at home in October last year. It was Pakistan’s last assignment in the 50-over format. They have dropped Abid Ali, Haris Sohail, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Zafar Gohar, Wahab Riaz, and Mohammad Musa.

Former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed has earned a recall for the upcoming series against the Proteas. The wicketkeeper-batsman has not played an ODI since October 2019. Along with him, Danish Aziz, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Nawaz and Mohammad Wasim have been added to the ODI squad too. The Pakistan selectors have also dropped seven players from the T20I squad and have replaced them with five players.

T20I squad:

Babar Azam, Shadab Khan, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Hafeez, Haider Ali, Danish Aziz, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Mohamamad Wasim Jr, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Hasan Ali, Arshad Iqbal, Usman Qadir

ODI squad:

Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Haider, Danish Aziz, Saud Shakil, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Shadab Khan, Mohammad, Rizwan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Hasan Ali, Usman Qadir