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Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi return as Pakistan announce 16-man squad for Australia series

RedwoodOriginal said:
I don't know how anyone can look at this squad and have any hopes of this team going past the second round. Worst part is that there is not a whole lot better you can make this team even if you drop the handful of guys who don't deserve to make the squad in any way whatsoever.
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Absolutely correct no talent at all..look at how india are chasimg 210 with ease
 
BouncerGuy said:
Pakistan unveil 16-member squad for T20I series against Australia

Lahore, 23 January 2026:

The Pakistan Cricket Board has named a 16-member squad for the upcoming three-match T20I series against Australia at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. The matches will take place on 29, 31 January, 1 February and will begin at 4pm PKT.

Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi have returned to the T20I squad after missing the three-match away series against Sri Lanka in early January.

Shadab Khan will continue to build on his comeback in the previous T20I series and will form part of a strong spin-bowling contingent along with Abrar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz and Usman Tariq.

Pakistan squad and player support personnel are expected to convene in Lahore on Saturday, 24 January and will begin their preparations for the series the following day.

Australia are set to arrive in Pakistan on Wednesday, 28 February and will play just their second series in the format on Pakistan soil after a solitary T20I in April 2022 at Gaddafi Stadium.

16-member squad:

Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wk) and Usman Tariq

Player support personnel:

Naveed Akram Cheema (team manager), Mike Hesson (head coach), Ashley Noffke (bowling coach), Shane McDermott (fielding coach), Hanif Malik (batting coach), Cliffe Deacon (physiotherapist), Grant Luden (strength and conditioning coach), Talha Ejaz (performance analyst), Syed Naeem Ahmed (media manager), Lt. Col. (r) Usman Anwari (security manager), Dr Wajid Ali Rafai (team doctor), Dr Raheel Karim (psychiatrist) and Muhammad Ehsan (masseur)

Series schedule: (All matches at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore)

1st T20I – Thursday, 29 January – 4pm PKT
2nd T20I – Saturday, 31 January – 4pm PKT
3rd T20I – Sunday, 1 February – 4pm PKT
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Can you post the link to your source?
 
Weak squad, but the only positive is no useless Haris Rauf. I simply can't stand that guy, and I hope that he never plays for Pakistan again.
 
mon858 said:
I would consider playing Usman Tariq in place of Faheem against SENA teams. We have more chance of beating them with spin getting bunch of wickets then with 1 extra pace bowling option or 1 or 2 over extra batting option with Faheem.
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Usman Tariq is a real trump card for Pakistan that they should use especially against SENA teams. For a lack of a better word, he is just a weird bowler. And if you haven't played him before, just that delay before releasing the ball can probably mess with your timing as a batsman. On top of that, he has few variations and is good at varying his pace. Might get found out later but right now he absolutely should be a first choice pick in big matches
 
lol too much of writ splitting in this thread. this is the best team they could have got from the resources PCB has. Not bad. They will most probably go to super 8 and then probably will be placed at 7th of 8th if WI get their mojo together.
 
The_KING said:
Weak squad, but the only positive is no useless Haris Rauf. I simply can't stand that guy, and I hope that he never plays for Pakistan again.
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Unfortunately as we know, in Pakistan, staying out of the team is generally the best thing that can happen to you as a player.

Most players see their stock go up when they are out of the team.
 
worst choice is that Usman khan. Absolutely pathetic if he is one of the top 16 players in PCB. I can assure you he won't get into third or fourth team for most countries. He has to be absolute worst i have seen representing Pakistan. Dare I say, he is even worse than BD batsmen
 
SportsWarrior said:
worst choice is that Usman khan. Absolutely pathetic if he is one of the top 16 players in PCB. I can assure you he won't get into third or fourth team for most countries. He has to be absolute worst i have seen representing Pakistan. Dare I say, he is even worse than BD batsmen
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For all the street cricketer jibes directed at Rauf, this guy is the closest thing I have seen to a street cricketer representing an international team
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
For all the street cricketer jibes directed at Rauf, this guy is the closest thing I have seen to a street cricketer representing an international team
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agreed. Rauf, although wilts under pressure, has some body of work behind him. Usman is absolute gully cricketer. I know Pakistan is going through skill crunch, which happens to all countries. But i am sure they still much better batter than Usman Khan
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
Unfortunately as we know, in Pakistan, staying out of the team is generally the best thing that can happen to you as a player.

Most players see their stock go up when they are out of the team.
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I can already see it. We get eliminated in the group stages of the World Cup, and people will start to say that we should have selected Haris Rauf. That is why TTFs like Haris Rauf keep on playing for years despite repeated failures.
 
with shadab as a leg spinner most likely in 11 and agha+saim as off spinners who most likely will be in 11 too. Wouldnt it be smarter to include sufyan muqeem instead of abrar or usman tariq?
 
Babar Azam’s last World Cup.

They should give him a guard of honour after we exit from the group stage just to make sure he doesn’t think about returning.

A promising player that turned out to be a complete failure at the age of 31.
 
YousafTheBeast said:
Babar Azam’s last World Cup.

They should give him a guard of honour after we exit from the group stage just to make sure he doesn’t think about returning.

A promising player that turned out to be a complete failure at the age of 31.
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Babar 2019-2022 walks into any intl side in all formats.
Post that he will find it difficult to get into even netherlands or Zimbabwe XI
 
Srilankan pitches will mostly have 130-160 type scores. So Babar Azam is not the worst option to have from a Pak scheme of things. Pak bowling will be a handful in Srilankan conditions if they play the right bowling combo.
 
Local.Dada said:
Srilankan pitches will mostly have 130-160 type scores. So Babar Azam is not the worst option to have from a Pak scheme of things. Pak bowling will be a handful in Srilankan conditions if they play the right bowling combo.
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Rain will spoil the party often, if PCT players didn't do that themselves
 
He is leading the charts here.

G_XLPuLakAAVhfx
 
Local.Dada said:
Srilankan pitches will mostly have 130-160 type scores. So Babar Azam is not the worst option to have from a Pak scheme of things. Pak bowling will be a handful in Srilankan conditions if they play the right bowling combo.
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Here comes Ramu kaka with his retarded input.

Babar is one of the worst batsmen against spin, and per his Ramu logic, it won't make a difference on SL wicket :D
 
CricVet said:
Here comes Ramu kaka with his retarded input.

Babar is one of the worst batsmen against spin, and per his Ramu logic, it won't make a difference on SL wicket :D
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@The Bald Eagle bro, do you want me to respond to this guy in the same tone? You banned me from the thread last time, just fyi because chicha can’t seem to catch a break or have a civil conversation.
 
I'll be brutally honest

This is not a Pakistani team, but mostly a group of players who helped the Generals to normalize the murders of Pakistani people, which were taking place just two to three KMs away from where the PSL matches was taking place

We might convince ourselves that the selection has a methodology with which we don't agre but the reality is that these players are being rewarded for sticking with the tyrants

There are chronically low SR batters, chronically unfit bowlers and the ambassadors of regional police in this team

This is why they always comeback or retain their spots.

This team is crap and extremely unfair to young players
 
tiger_khan said:
I'll be brutally honest

This is not a Pakistani team, but mostly a group of players who helped the Generals to normalize the murders of Pakistani people, which were taking place just two to three KMs away from where the PSL matches was taking place

We might convince ourselves that the selection has a methodology with which we don't agre but the reality is that these players are being rewarded for sticking with the tyrants

There are chronically low SR batters, chronically unfit bowlers and the ambassadors of regional police in this team

This is why they always comeback or retain their spots.

This team is crap and extremely unfair to young players
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Well...we don't know about players as guilty of anything other than cricket.

However, I agree that SOME of these players DO NOT justify their selection. BUT, historically, this is what PCB has been doing for a long time unfortunately :(
 
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CricVet said:
Now

Well...we don't know about players as guilty of anything other than cricket.

However, I agree that SOME of these players DO NOT justify their selection. BUT, historically, this is what PCB has been doing for a long time unfortunately :(
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My stance is:

1 - one of these guys became a Punjab Police Ambassador when they killed an autistic person. He has come back directly to the team after one year of injury gap

2 - one injured fast bowler's father in law basically makes romantic statements about the Generals and criticized a persecuted politician and his party

3 - there is one guy who has been rightfully, recently kicked out of a popular league because of ridiculously low SR but has made the cut. The same player was posting his fashion related images on SM with in 24 hours of murders

4 - there is a wicket keeper batsman, who has made into the team ever since the regime change and yet to prove his spot on the team

There are many other examples of similar players who became too much of a liability that they couldn't retain their spots. Including one player, who announced," PCB chairman bohat mehenat kartay Hain"

These failed repeatedly but retained their spots for a long time. Must have said something now to upset some political person

At least that's my stance. Other people might see it differently

It's not my time. It's a team representing the tyrants of Pakistan
 
Apologies if someone’s mentioned this already, but I believe this IS the World Cup squad barring one of Waz Jr or Naseem dropping out.

Im not going to re-litigate the puzzling exclusion of Hasan Nawaz, but whatever.

I hope they give Nafay all three games vs Oz, and play Usman for two games too. Shaheen needs all three games to get back into rhythm.

I imagine the first two games will be a bowl off between Waz Jr and Naseem. I also wouldn’t give Usman Tariq a game. Play him in the WC where teams wouldn’t have faced him.

Have no idea where Babar bats in this team, especially w/ Sal Agha finding his place at no.3.

Lots of food for thought….
 
Almost half of the playing 11 team is sucking the blood out of Pak cricket like leaches

Retaining spots despite prolonged failures

They are able to do it because they helped out the tyrants when they wanted to protect their depleted reputation and image. Tyrants are returning the favor
 
The_KING said:
I can already see it. We get eliminated in the group stages of the World Cup, and people will start to say that we should have selected Haris Rauf. That is why TTFs like Haris Rauf keep on playing for years despite repeated failures.
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Rauf's problem isn't that he doesn't perform. He generally always takes wickets even when he goes for runs because his high pace is definitely a USP. His biggest problem is that he just seems to have a really low bowling IQ. Which also connects to his other issue which is lack of temperament i.e. he always blows it in big moments and matches.

IMO such a player a far more dangerous than someone who is just an irredeemably bad player, because such players coast on the basis of low-impact/low-pressure performances but fail miserably when the teams need them most.
 
tiger_khan said:
My stance is:

1 - one of these guys became a Punjab Police Ambassador when they killed an autistic person. He has come back directly to the team after one year of injury gap

2 - one injured fast bowler's father in law basically makes romantic statements about the Generals and criticized a persecuted politician and his party

3 - there is one guy who has been rightfully, recently kicked out of a popular league because of ridiculously low SR but has made the cut. The same player was posting his fashion related images on SM with in 24 hours of murders

4 - there is a wicket keeper batsman, who has made into the team ever since the regime change and yet to prove his spot on the team

There are many other examples of similar players who became too much of a liability that they couldn't retain their spots. Including one player, who announced," PCB chairman bohat mehenat kartay Hain"

These failed repeatedly but retained their spots for a long time. Must have said something now to upset some political person

At least that's my stance. Other people might see it differently

It's not my time. It's a team representing the tyrants of Pakistan
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I understand. These generals have been dangling carrots and the shameless have been falling for it. It certainly tell you about the greed factor. I get what you are saying. That father in law has habit of biting something even during his cricket days - not a surprise. :)
 
TheSultan said:
We knew who would be selected. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion
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In any case, it’s the last T20 World Cup for a few of this batch. Fakhar, Babar and maybe even Faheem.

You’ll possibly see a 2007/2015 style clear out, as the public will be eager to see new blood given a go.

This won’t happen if we win it of course 😀.
 
KingOfPakBreakfast said:
In any case, it’s the last T20 World Cup for a few of this batch. Fakhar, Babar and maybe even Faheem.

You’ll possibly see a 2007/2015 style clear out, as the public will be eager to see new blood given a go.

This won’t happen if we win it of course 😀.
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Fakhar definitely

Faheem maybe

Babar - no chance. He will leech on as long as his social media marketing machine is well fed.

We’ve discussed before. After yet another inevitable failure of a tournament we’ll um and aah about dropping him, 18 months in to the next cycle it will be “aaargh how can we drop senior players 6 months before another World Cup”.

Rinse, repeat
 
Including Babar for a t20 world cup on damp spinning wickets of SL. Selectors thinking Babar can play spin like Younis or even Malik but the thing is Babar is extremely ordinary against spinners.
 
Only big miss I see is Samad.. Who got dropped without even getting a single game.. I think they wanted backup keeper so they adjusted nafay in last series and his first game was success overall.

Overall, not having high hopes from this side...
 
After Australia series if usman khan fails I won't be surprised if rizwan is back i would like to know does agha and Henson have a say in selection if yes then they should be first to go how can you pick a t20 squad of accumulators and expect to win a tournament where you are required to score at a rapid rate its like asking marathon runners to do a 100 yard sprint sorry not going to work.
 
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