Rizwan, Babar dropped from Pakistan squad for T20 series in New Zealand

For the T20 series against New Zealand, Pakistan has eliminated captain Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam and rewarded several domestic players with five-match starts on March 16.

Salman Ali Agha will serve as the team’s captain, while Shadab Khan will serve as vice-captain. In the T20 series against Zimbabwe at the end of last year, Salaman also led Pakistan to a 2-1 victory.

Babar was also a part of the squad, which included Rizwan and three one-day internationals (ODIs) against New Zealand starting on March 29.

After Pakistan’s premature exit from the Champions Trophy, where did selectors make several changes to the ODI squad, losing to both New Zealand and India? After their previous encounter with Bangladesh washed out, they finished fourth in their group.

Although the T20 squad includes both Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf, they were dropped for the ODIs.

After selectors turned down Abdullah Shafique for the Champions Trophy because he had won three straight ducks in South Africa, top-order batters Kamran Ghulam and Saud Shakeel were also dropped.

Both Fakhar Zaman and Saim Ayub, both injured, are recovering from their injuries, and neither left-handed player was chosen for one of New Zealand’s eight white ball games.

In the T20 format, Pakistan’s interim head coach Aaqib Javed stated to reporters on Tuesday that “we need to play fearless and aggressive cricket.”

Teams are now scoring more than 200 in T20 cricket. Additionally, we require batters who can hit big shots with the first six overs of the batting powerplay.

Javed’s contract ran until the Champions Trophy, but it will continue as the Pakistan Cricket Board searches for full-time head coaches.

The T20 squad’s three uncapped players include fast bowlers Mohammad Ali and batters Abdul Samad and Hasan Nawaz.

In the domestic T20 Champions Cup, Samad won 115 runs with a strike-rate of 166.67, while Nawaz won 312 runs and finished with the second-highest run-getter in the competition. With 22 wickets, Ali, a right-arm Pakistan Test fast bowler, was the top bowler in the same competition.

Squads from Pakistan:

Salman Ali Agha (captain), Shadab Khan, Abbas Afridi, Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Hasan Nawaz, Irfan Khan, Jahandad Khan, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Haris, Omair Bin Yousaf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, and Usman Khan are the T20 T20 squad.