On Wednesday (2nd October), the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the 16-member squad for the upcoming home T20I series against Sri Lanka.
The historic three-match ODI series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka is going to end on Wednesday night. After this ODI series, they will busy in the three-match T20I series. They will play the T20Is on 5th, 7th and 9th October 2019 respectively. National Stadium (Karachi) has hosted all the three ODIs of this historic tour. Meanwhile, Gaddafi Stadium (Lahore) will host all the three T20Is of the upcoming series.
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Maintaining their previous announcement, Sarfaraz Ahmed will continue his captaincy in the upcoming T20I series. The no.1-ranked T20I batsman Babar Azam will continue to play the deputy captain role in this T20I series. Pakistan are currently the no,1-ranked T20I side while Sri Lanka are the eighth-ranked T20I side.
Pakistan T20I squad has three changes from the latest ODI squad
From the latest ODI series against Sri Lanka, the head coach Misbah-ul-Haq-led selection committee has dropped three players for the upcoming T20I series. Apart from the injured Imam-ul-Haq, Abid Ali and Mohammad Rizwan have also faced exclusion. Meanwhile, Umar Akmal, Ahmed Shehzad and Faheem Ashraf have returned to the national squad for the upcoming T20I series.
While Umar Akmal played his last international match in last March (ODI), he played his last T20I in September 2016. On the other hand, Ahmed Shehzad played his last T20I in June 2018.
Faheem Ashraf was in the initial 15-member Pakistan squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. But at last, he missed out the final 15-member Pakistan squad for that tournament. He played his last international match (ODI) in last May during Pakistan tour of England. In that same month, he played his last T20I too.
Full Pakistan T20I squad for the upcoming series against Sri Lanka: Sarfaraz Ahmed (captain/wk), Babar Azam (vc), Ahmed Shehzad, Asif Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Umar Akmal, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz.
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Full schedule of the T20I series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka
(Three-match T20I series)
5th October 2019: 1st T20I – Gaddafi Stadium (Lahore)
7th October 2019: 2nd T20I – Gaddafi Stadium (Lahore)
9th October 2019: 3rd T20I – Gaddafi Stadium (Lahore)