Pakistan announce squad for T20I series vs Sri Lanka (Comebacks for Umar Akmal & Ahmed Shehzad)

[MenInG]

Pakistan squad for Sri Lanka T20Is announced

• Three changes from the ODI squad playing Sri Lanka in Karachi; Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal and Faheem Ashraf come into the side

Lahore, 2 October 2019:

Pakistan national team’s head coach and chief selector, Misbah-ul-Haq, has named a 16-member squad for three T20Is against Sri Lanka in Lahore from 5 to 9 October.

From the ODI side presently in Karachi, there are three changes. Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Akmal and Faheem Ashraf have replaced Abid Ali, Mohammad Rizwan and Imam-ul-Haq.

Ahmed last featured in a T20I in June 2018 against Scotland, while Umar’s last appearance in the same format was in September 2016 against the West Indies. Faheem last played for Pakistan in a five-match away ODI series against England in May this year.

Imam has been left out of the T20I side due to an injury in his left-hand, which he sustained while fielding in the second ODI against Sri Lanka on Monday. He is also unavailable for selection for the third ODI on Wednesday.

T20I Squad (in alphabetical order, domestic teams in brackets):

1. Sarfaraz Ahmed (captain) (Sindh)
2. Babar Azam (vice-captain) (Central Punjab)
3. Ahmed Shehzad (Central Punjab)
4. Asif Ali (Northern)
5. Faheem Ashraf (Central Punjab)
6. Fakhar Zaman (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
7. Haris Sohail (Balochistan)
8. Iftikhar Ahmed (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
9. Imad Wasim (Northern)
10. Mohammad Amir (Northern)
11. Mohammad Hasnain (Sindh)
12. Mohammad Nawaz (Northern)
13. Shadab Khan (Northern)
14. Umar Akmal (Central Punjab)
15. Usman Shinwari (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)
16. Wahab Riaz (Southern Punjab)

T20I Series schedule:

5 Oct – 1st T20I, Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
7 Oct – 2nd T20I, Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
9 Oct – 3rd T20I, Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

 

[Bilal Ahmad15]

Ahmed Shezad, Umar Akmal, Faheem Ashraf and usless Asif Ali look like the biggest changes from the ODI squad

 

[Danyaalr01]

Why Shehzad and Akmal. What's the point of bringing in these guys when the current lot are already doing so good. Why fix something that's not broken? We all know what Shehzad is going to do, try and play pretty shots and end up getting a useless 39 off 40 balls. Akmal will try and slog one and hit it down the throat of deep midwicket.

Everytime Akmal makes a comeback some people say he is a new and improved player and he will perform, but he fails by making the same mistakes he's always made; or he breaks curfew time because of some night club or concert.

Also Faheem and Aif don't merit selection. Haris Sohail can do good at number 3 instead of Asif.

 

[Omer2002]

it is perfect selection for 20 20s..although i Ahmad shehzad wudnt be in my team

 

[Mamoon]

Hopefully Shehzad will perform and replace Fakhar in the next ODI squad.

 

[Rellu_Katta]

stupidity strikes with misbah... umar akmal .... truly shameful .... lost all respect for misbah

 

[Sunny_majoka]

Hopefully Shehzad will perform and replace Fakhar in the next ODI squad.

Agree with you, he is average but clearly better than fakher, watching him play is painful nowdays the way he bats.
Shehzad is elegant but he also needs to improve his strike rotation.

 

[Sunny_majoka]

Haris only fits in t20 squad if Babar gets injured

 

[Shafi]

Misbah will never change. So next 4 years we will see same players be recycle again and again. This guy has so much hate against new players.
I feel sorry for Nasim Shah, Haider Ali, Hasan Khan, Rohail, Umer Khan.... 4 years of their cricket career will be wasted by nothing players.

 

[SensiblePakFan]

Cmon misbah, why shehzad whyy

 

[SensiblePakFan]

Hopefully Shehzad will perform and replace Fakhar in the next ODI squad.

Why,Because of his historically 'high' strike rate

 

[emranabbas]

Friends are are back

 

[Shafi]

Cmon misbah, why shehzad whyy

Why you are so surprise?Didn't Misbah always do that during his captaincy? We should be grateful that he didn't bring S Butt, Kamran, Azhar, Shafiq,M Sami in LOI yet.

 

[Khan12]

The squads are getting ever more shocking. This is just the start. Misbah is on it's to destroy the hard work which mickey put in.

 

[Danyaalr01]

Hopefully Shehzad will perform and replace Fakhar in the next ODI squad.

Wow, what a strike rate and average, Mickey Arthur and Inzi were very poor not to pick him all these years, poor coach and selector. The whole doping ban must have been set up by Inzi too to keep him away.

 

[Corridor of Uncertainty]

Looking at PSL 2019 top performers, one cannot questions Misbah's selections.

However, that is the fallacy of selected samples. You can only pick from the one's who were given chances.

I do think 2 or 3 new faces should have been tried - especially against a weakened Sri Lankan squad at home.

But Misbah likes certainty. He doesn't like to take risks for bigger rewards.

A decent, predictable squad of known commodities which will do well against weaker opposition but will not perform against the likes of England, Australia or India - especially away from home.

 

[Shafi]

The squads are getting ever more shocking. This is just the start. Misbah is on it's to destroy the hard work which mickey put in.

Soon he will bring Azhar, Shafiq in ODI as well.

 

[Khan12]

Soon he will bring Azhar, Shafiq in ODI as well.

I am surprised that he already hasn't. Don't worry rahat will be back.

 

[Hadi Rizvi]

As expected.

Back to the usual trash.

 

[Mesozoic]

How many times have Akmal and Shehzad been recycled ? Are there no promising young cricketers coming through the ranks in Pakistan? Have heard a lot about Rohail Nazir and saw him score a 100 against our u19 boys in the recent Asia cup . So why can't he be thrown into the mix ?

 

[Shafi]

PCB should never give so much power and 3 years contract to Misbah. Misbah doesn't need to answer anyone and he can recycle same players again and again.

 

[DRsohail]

Oh man get rid of this trash coach.

 

[topspin]

Umar Akmal deserves to be back playing white ball cricket but the lack of new blood in the squad is concerning.

Hardly surprising given his phobia for youngsters when he was captain of the team.

 

[topspin]

Hopefully Shehzad will perform and replace Fakhar in the next ODI squad.

Fakhar needs to be shifted down the order but I would rather see the return of Sharjeel in the team.

Shehzad has worked hard on his fitness but until he can master strike rotation his SR in ODIs will remain in the 70s.

Also with Shehzad and Imam opening the team they will ensure Pakistan doesn't score any more than 30 runs in the first PP. Is that what you want?

 

[Shafi]

Umar Akmal deserves to be back playing white ball cricket but the lack of new blood in the squad is concerning.

Hardly surprising given his phobia for youngsters when he was captain of the team.

Don't know why he has so much hatred against younger players. Once he was younger himself.

 

[Hasan123]

Shehzad worst format is T20 and he is selected lol. Still no specialist spinner.

Overall it's a safe squad. Could have experimented more as there is a World T20 next year and it's not Sri Lanka first team.

 

[topspin]

Don't know why he has so much hatred against younger players. Once he was younger himself.

He has no grasp of the modern game and he's very much an integral part of the toxic seniority culture that remains to persist in Pakistan cricket.

 

[Kroll]

Agree with you, he is average but clearly better than fakher, watching him play is painful nowdays the way he bats.
Shehzad is elegant but he also needs to improve his strike rotation.

It's going to be even more painful watching Shehzad bat, in fact it will be amounting to torture.

 

[Mercurial]

Oh God. I miss Mickey Arthur now.

 

[unemployedgm]

You can justify Akmal. Shehzad is incomprehensible.

1. Can't Rotate the Strike
2. Can't Hit Fours
3. Can't Hit Sixes

What does Ahmed Shehzad do really well in T20s?

 

[nextover666666]

I know for PCB and its management it would have been too much to draft in a new face for t20 series Agaisnt weak Sri Lanka team but atleast give aamer Yamin a go if ur gonna select some players from the past

 

[Titan24]

Soon he will bring Azhar, Shafiq in ODI as well.

Oh man get rid of this trash coach.

PCB should never give so much power and 3 years contract to Misbah. Misbah doesn't need to answer anyone and he can recycle same players again and again.

Oh God. I miss Mickey Arthur now.

You guys do realize Mickey selected Imam, Abid Ali and Hafeez(So much for young blood) for the T20 match against Eng, the last one Pak played with nothing much else being different?

I am not sure if you guys prefer Imam and Abid Ali in T20s but Shehzad and Umar in T20s definitely look like an upgrade over them to me. While Junaid was one of the pacers in the squad and its a no brainer Wahab has better T20 skills than him for sometime now.

 

[moghul]

stupidity strikes with misbah... umar akmal .... truly shameful .... lost all respect for misbah

Join the club.

 

[Khan12]

You guys do realize Mickey selected Imam, Abid Ali and Hafeez(So much for young blood) for the T20 match against Eng, the last one Pak played with nothing much else being different?

I am not sure if you guys prefer Imam and Abid Ali in T20s but Shehzad and Umar in T20s definitely look like an upgrade over them to me. While Junaid was one of the pacers in the squad and its a no brainer Wahab has better T20 skills than him for sometime now.

You do realise we were only playing 1 t20 so there was no point selecting others as well as the world cup being round the corner hence selecting them and giving them a chance. We know you hate mickey but he was miles better then shameless misbah.

 

[Titan24]

You do realise we were only playing 1 t20 so there was no point selecting others as well as the world cup being round the corner hence selecting them and giving them a chance. We know you hate mickey but he was miles better then shameless misbah.

Loosing an international T20 match with this justification is not on for any coach in my opinion but anyways, who should have been selected here? Sahibzada Farhan, Hussain Talat etc? Again what are we missing here which Mickey would have selected?

I am not a fan of Mickey because of the tactical blunders he made which you dont expect from an international coach. We will have to see how Misbah does before judging him but unnecessary and non factual criticism against him isnt very impressive, when he hasnt been into the role for few months. If we start loosing matches regularly with his tactical blunders I will criticize him too.

 

[Hawkeye]

Good to see Umar.

It's also an excellent filter - if someone is getting upset over Umar Akmal's selection, you can easily tell they don't know their cricket much and shouldn't be taken seriously.

Our best domestic performer and someone who can take clobber pace attacks, great addition.

Shehzad is a worry, he can't bat, don't have the shots and the mindset.

 

[Shafi]

Loosing an international T20 match with this justification is not on for any coach in my opinion but anyways, who should have been selected here? Sahibzada Farhan, Hussain Talat etc? Again what are we missing here which Mickey would have selected?

I am not a fan of Mickey because of the tactical blunders he made which you dont expect from an international coach. We will have to see how Misbah does before judging him but unnecessary and non factual criticism against him isnt very impressive, when he hasnt been into the role for few months. If we start loosing matches regularly with his tactical blunders I will criticize him too.

There is a big difference of attitude when its comes to desi to foreigner. Misbah will get away with much worse performance by Pakistan team and he will most likely get an extension. He knows how the system works and how to manipulate sweet talks. Micky is a baby compare to Misbah in terms of politics.

 

[Afhan Ali]

He was a mediocre player and he is a mediocre coach

 

[Afhan Ali]

Can't wait to see 7th rank in t20 too

 

[Afhan Ali]

Why not try Gohar or Umar khan in place of Nawaz/Imad

 

[Kroll]

Loosing an international T20 match with this justification is not on for any coach in my opinion but anyways, who should have been selected here? Sahibzada Farhan, Hussain Talat etc? Again what are we missing here which Mickey would have selected?

I am not a fan of Mickey because of the tactical blunders he made which you dont expect from an international coach. We will have to see how Misbah does before judging him but unnecessary and non factual criticism against him isnt very impressive, when he hasnt been into the role for few months. If we start loosing matches regularly with his tactical blunders I will criticize him too.

Most folks here are criticising the selections which have now been made. This may or may not be justified given the reasons provided.

 

[Shafi]

Can't wait to see 7th rank in t20 too

As if it will make any difference. I bet he still get away with that. Wasim Khan will suffer the consequence due to his dual citizenship.

 

[saeedhk]

As expected, Misbah is bringing back all the passengers back.

Misbah was the worst ODI player and he will be the worst cricket coach the world has ever seen.

 

[coy0607]

around and round in circles we go... Wahab, Shehzad, Akmal, Asif are back for now, next series some of them will get dropped and Hafeez, Malik and Junaid will be back. By next year we'll see the same players recycled again

regardless of selectors some thing never change. Misbah is more of the same, in fact a step backwards from Inzamam

 

[Syed1]

Oh God. I miss Mickey Arthur now.

Considering his pathetic selections, I'm even missing Inzi the revolutionary now.

 

[Khan12]

Loosing an international T20 match with this justification is not on for any coach in my opinion but anyways, who should have been selected here? Sahibzada Farhan, Hussain Talat etc? Again what are we missing here which Mickey would have selected?

I am not a fan of Mickey because of the tactical blunders he made which you dont expect from an international coach. We will have to see how Misbah does before judging him but unnecessary and non factual criticism against him isnt very impressive, when he hasnt been into the role for few months. If we start loosing matches regularly with his tactical blunders I will criticize him too.

Last 3 scores of talat were 56,41 and 3 so he dropped to be replaced with shehzad and akmal who have been scoring centuries for fun. Akmal got a whole series against Australia and falied as usual they will succeed here and flop in Australia. BTW i don't even want talat.

 

[Barragan]

Don't know what haris is doing there, he can't even get into his PSL side and he should be nowhere near the national T20 side.

Malik should have been picked and still one of the best T20 batsmen in the country, plus is doing well in the CPL.

 

[Afhan Ali]

Wasim Patriotic khan and Misbah Dual role Ul Haq is best thing happened to pak cricket in this decade

 

[coy0607]

Considering his pathetic selections, I'm even missing Inzi the revolutionary now.

The last full squad Inzamam selected for a T20 series, he included new faces like Sahibzada Farhan and Husnain Talat. Misbah recalled Shehzad and Akmal

I would say Inzamam was 10 times the selector Misbah is

 

[Nasty Naz]

Hopefully Shehzad will perform and replace Fakhar in the next ODI squad.

Please stop with your bad horrific hot takes.

As for the squad, I'd hope Hasnain plays over Wahab.

 

[Hawkeye]

Loving the meltdown here.

Especially over a top batsman like Umar Akmal.

I'm really glad our awaam is not left to make such decisions, they clearly don't know much about batting.

 

[Mujtaba2900]

Loving the meltdown here.

Especially over a top batsman like Umar Akmal.

I'm really glad our awaam is not left to make such decisions, they clearly don't know much about batting.

We already lost 3 t20 matches
2 against South Africa
1 against England
Lost odi Chasing 371 which we should have Chased had we Competent No.5 or No.6 Pinch hitter
And Akmal Is much more then That
We Need Akmal
If Not then who is alternative ?

 

[QalandarFan]

The Umar Akmal selection alone

 

[Hawkeye]

We already lost 3 t20 matches
2 against South Africa
1 against England
Lost odi Chasing 371 which we should have Chased had we Competent No.5 or No.6 Pinch hitter
And Akmal Is much more then That
We Need Akmal
If Not then who is alternative ?

True.

Umar Akmal is the need of the hour. We don't have any batsmen apart from Babar, Haris and Umar Akmal who are comfortable against pace bowling, specially high quality pace bowling.

Umar can attack them as well.

 

[Ami]

One word.
Pathetic.

 

[Usman Chadda]

True.

Umar Akmal is the need of the hour. We don't have any batsmen apart from Babar, Haris and Umar Akmal who are comfortable against pace bowling, specially high quality pace bowling.

Umar can attack them as well.

The issue has always been about Umar not being comfortable with that puny brain of his. Just doesn't know how to use it.

 

[Boi]

Same old names.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Hopefully Shehzad will perform and replace Fakhar in the next ODI squad.

On what basis. On back of what do u claim that. Track record is there for all to see which shows shehzad is no comparison to any opener that Pakistan have at th moment be it Imam, fakhar and Abid. So no thanks. Half fit fakhar is better than shehzad.

What fakhar achieved shehzad couldn’t do with all the chances that he has got.

If u wish pak to fail and go back to their old days of shehzadi and Misbahi tuk tuk style of batting then I see ur claim to be apt.

 

[ask_analyse_act]

The last full squad Inzamam selected for a T20 series, he included new faces like Sahibzada Farhan and Husnain Talat. Misbah recalled Shehzad and Akmal

I would say Inzamam was 10 times the selector Misbah is

Inzi was the better selector out of all pak had in the last decade or so. Called it during his tenure when people are at him for his selections. Big loss going forward for pak.

Misbah will bring them down from no1 to no9 with his attitude and selection blunders as he is famous for keeping the team just below average.

 

[Ellipsism]

We are going to get clobbered down under.

Pathetic selections.

 

[Usman Chadda]

We are going to get clobbered down under.

Pathetic selections.

We were going to get clobbered regardless.

 

[moghul]

Shehzad in, Shehzad out and then in , Umar Akmal in then out and then in, for how long we'll keep playing this drama, its 10 years already . Isn;t time to try someone else FGS.

 

[pakistani pride]

Shocked to see UA and Shezad.
Pathetic selections.

 

[Saj]

One step forward and two steps back when it is coming to selection.

On what basis have the likes of Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad been picked.

 

[Usman]

I can see the direction of travel here. Soon we'll see headlines such as:

Misbah announces new squad. Imran says he will juggle being PM and national team star. Sarfraz Nawaz thanks Misbah for his selection and commends PCB for finally taking care of their players.

 

[Rayyman]

Fakhar
Babar
Akmal
Sarfraz*+
Asif
Iftikhar
Imad
Nawaz
Faheem
Amir
Hasnain

MashAllah this team looks so much better without Hafeez, Malik and Sarfraz.

 

[Rayyman]

Fakhar
Babar
Akmal
Sarfraz*+
Asif
Iftikhar
Imad
Nawaz
Faheem
Amir
Hasnain

MashAllah this team looks so much better without Hafeez, Malik and Sarfraz.

I mean wahab

 

[szundercover]

Wahab should be dropped he is an pathetic t20 bowler.Otherwise the rest of the names are fine.

 

[Chikkeh]

Let's get behind the boys. Don't let any personal agendas get in the way.

 

[Danyaalr01]

1. Babar
2. Fakhar
3. Haris
4. Iftikhar
5. Asif (floater)
6. Sarfaraz (prefer if he doesn't bat at end)
7. Imad (floater)
8. Shadab
9. Amir
10. Shinwari
11. Hasnain

 

[szundercover]

1. Babar
2. Fakhar
3. Haris
4. Iftikhar
5. Asif (floater)
6. Sarfaraz (prefer if he doesn't bat at end)
7. Imad (floater)
8. Shadab
9. Amir
10. Shinwari
11. Hasnain

Replace asif ali with umar akmal and shinwari with faheem ashraf otherwise this is an very good 11.

 

[hadi123]

Poor squad. But part of me is satisfied seeing all these idiots who were so #InziOut when I was saying the whole time he was one of the best options for a selector.

 

[Slim]

Good to see shezzy boy back. Well deserved. Haters gonna hate.

 

[szundercover]

Poor squad. But part of me is satisfied seeing all these idiots who were so #InziOut when I was saying the whole time he was one of the best options for a selector.

We will still end up winning the t20 series 3 nil and also win the t20 series against Australia in Australia even with this team.

 

[hadi123]

We will still end up winning the t20 series 3 nil and also win the t20 series against Australia in Australia even with this team.

Most probably will win this series 3-0 but that's not the point.

Wouldn't be so sure about the T20I series in Australia

 

[Abdullah719]

Good to see shezzy boy back. Well deserved. Haters gonna hate.

Looks like you're a fan of the Chief Selector now

 

[Danyaalr01]

Replace asif ali with umar akmal and shinwari with faheem ashraf otherwise this is an very good 11.

True, just remembered Shinwari shouldn't play T20.

 

[Danyaalr01]

Good to see shezzy boy back. Well deserved. Haters gonna hate.

Shehzad has no place in the t20 side with Fakhar and Babar peforming. He also has no place in the ODI side with Abid Ali there.

 

[HappyWarsFan]

Poor squad. But part of me is satisfied seeing all these idiots who were so #InziOut when I was saying the whole time he was one of the best options for a selector.

Lol what are you talking about? This is a good selection by Misbah. But anyways Loi selections don't matter. Misbah is a test specialist and all I want is him to select well for tests. PCB hired Misbah because they wanted a good performance in World test championship. Misbah will surely pick spinners and domestic performers unlike Mickey and inzi who brought PSL hacks into the test team.

 

[Titan24]

Regardless of my opinion its a decent squad, I think following things could have been done to test a few players and made the series bit more useful in preparation of T20 WC as well as strengthening the 50 overs bench strength:

- We already had openers in Babar and Fakhar for T20s. So maybe rather than having a 3rd opener in Shehzad, Khushdil Shah deservingly could have been in the squad.

- Also I think over maybe by resting Shinwari and Wahab, Haris Rauf and Amad Butt could have been tried. We all know the skills of Haris Rauf while Amad Butt has been pretty impressive as bowling all rounder in last couple of seasons and if succeeded he could have been eventually promoted to 50 overs in due time.

- Also by either resting Shadab or Imad, Zafar Gohar or Usama Mir could have been tried.

Power hitters, good death bowlers, pace bowling all rounders and genuine spinners are things which team management needs to strengthen the bench and I think these two three changes could have provide a good opportunity for that.