Raipur
Win Projections to be updated soon
There are fewer changes in the bowling department, with the make-up roughly the same as it was for Pakistan’s recent T20I series in South Africa. Naseem Shah, who last played T20Is against Australia in November, remains absent while Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf are part of the squad. Spinners Sufiyaan Muqeem and Abrar Ahmed retain their places, while Khushdil Shah comes into the side.
While Aaqib Javed did not officially say this was the end of Rizwan as T20I captain, it appears very much on the cards after an unhappy, if brief, stint in the role. He led Pakistan as full-time captain in just five completed T20Is, losing all of them. He was absent for the three T20Is in Zimbabwe, with Agha leading the team in their 2-1 series win.
Babar’s absence, too, suggests Pakistan are once more trying to break free of the Babar-Rizwan combination at the top of the order. The duo up top have polarised opinion almost as soon as the combination was set up in 2020. Critics have panned them for being too-risk averse at the start of the innings, but their reliability and consistency of run accumulation, set in contrast against an oft-misfiring middle order, has seen Pakistan continue to return to them.
Pakistan play five T20Is in New Zealand starting 16 March, followed by three ODIs.
Pakistan squad: Hassan Nawaz, Omair Yousuf, Mohammad Haris Abdul Samad, Salman Ali Agha (capt), Irfan Niazi, Khushdil Shah, Shadab Khan Abbas Afridi, Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Sufiyaan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed, Usman Khan
