Pakistan have named Sahibzada Farhan as Twenty20 captain for the Sri Lanka series and kept Shaheen Shah Afridi in charge of the one-day side for the tri-series with England, leaving Babar Azam out of the T20I squad and replacing Salman Ali Agha as T20I captain.
The Pakistan Cricket Board announced both squads on Monday, October 5, setting up a busy two-format window that opens in Rawalpindi on October 9. Farhan earns the T20I job after leading a second-string side to silver at the Asian Games, where Pakistan lost the gold-medal match to India by 19 runs.
A new voice for the shortest format
Farhan takes over from Salman Ali Agha, who has been left out of the T20I squad but stays in the one-day group. Babar Azam and Shaheen are also absent from the T20I party, and both are retained for the 50-over format. Shaheen keeps the ODI captaincy for the tri-series.
Fresh names, familiar faces
Mohammad Imran Randhawa receives his first T20I selection, and Razaullah collects a maiden white-ball call-up after impressing in Test cricket. Hasan Nawaz, who hit 96 off 51 balls in that Asian Games final, keeps his place, with Naseem Shah and Abdul Samad also named in the T20I group. The one-day squad adds Saad Baig as a wicketkeeper-batter.
Several members of the Asian Games party did not make the cut. Ali Raza, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Akif Javed and Ahmed Daniyal were all left out, as were Usman Khan and Usman Tariq.
Tait returns to the staff
Off the field, former Australia fast bowler Shaun Tait returns as Pakistan’s bowling coach, giving the pace attack a familiar presence as the schedule tightens.
What comes next
The three T20Is against Sri Lanka are set for October 9, 11 and 13 at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. The one-day tri-series with England and Sri Lanka follows from October 18 to October 31, with seven matches that begin in Rawalpindi and move to Lahore, which hosts the final.
England arrive as familiar opponents. They beat Pakistan by an innings and 103 runs in the first Test at Headingley in August, so the tri-series gives Shaheen’s side a first chance to answer them in the one-day format.
