PAK vs BAN | Naseem Shah and Hasan Ali fail to find place in 15-man Pakistan squad for T20I series

Pakistan's preparations for next year's T20 World Cup are set to contine with three T20Is in Mirpur on July 20, 22, and 24 respectively. The visitors, playing their third series under new skipper Salman Agha Ali and a second under head coach Mike Hesson, have opted for a revamped squad from their previous outing against the Tigers last month, despite having clean swept the three-match home series. Two changes are forced with Shadab Khan still recovering from a shoulder surgery and Haris Rauf picking up a hamstring issue in Major League Cricket, while Naseem Shah, Hasan Ali, Irfan Khan, and Muhammad Waseem have been dropped without explanation.

While Irfan, Waseem, and Naseem had failed to feature in any of the three games in Lahore, Hasan backed up an impressive Pakistan Super League campaign where he finished as the second highest wicket-taker (17 scalps) with eight scalps against Bangladesh to top the charts for the series. Nevertheless, the pace bowling replacements include the uncapped Ahmed Daniyal and Salman Mirza, the latter a left-arm option, and the returning Abbas Afridi who was not picked for the previous series despite ending level with Hasan in the PSL.

The other addition includes left-arm wristpinner Sufiyan Muqeem who has 18 wickets in 10 T20Is so far at an economy of little over six, and returning veteran all-rounder Muhammad Nawaz who bats low down the order and bowls left-arm orthodox spin.

Pakistan squad for T20I series against Bangladesh: Salman Agha (c), Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Sufiyan Muqeem