No Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi as Pakistan announce T20I squad for Sri Lanka series
None of the top three experenced trio of Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Shah Afridi have been picked as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) reveal squad for the upcoming Sri Lanka series.
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Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has recalled the veteran spin all-rounder, Shahab Khan, for their three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka, while the uncapped batter and the part-time wicket-keeper batter, Khawaja Nafay, has earned a first call-up for the preparation of the series ahead of the T20 World Cup 2026 in India and Sri Lanka.
Salman Ali Agha will continue to lead the squad as it takes part in that country, where they will play all of their games. Before his appearance for the Sydney Thunder in the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL) down under, he was last in action during the home T20I series against Bangladesh.
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Pakistan earned victory in this series by a margin of 3-0, with Shadab picking four wickets and scoring 55 runs. He had a successful surgery to address the issue in the right shoulder and came back to action in the BBL, where he has picked up six wickets and contributed 75 runs in three games.
Shadab Khan returns for Pakistan’s T20I series
None of the other Pakistan players, including Hasan Ali, Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Mohammad Rizwan, have been named in the squad. All of those games in the Sri Lanka series will be played in Dambulla on January 07, 09, and 11. Babar could return along with Afridi once they announce the T20 World Cup 2026 squad.
Khawaja Nafay has managed 688 T20 runs in 32 innings at an average of 23.72 and a strike rate of 132.81 with the help of seven half-centuries at the best score of 68. In the recent PSL 2025 for the QG side, he nailed 52 runs in two innings at a strike rate of 173.33.
In the recent Abu Dhabi T10 league, the 23-year-old batted beautifully and was also part of the Pakistan Shaheens squad.
Pakistan squad for T20I series vs Sri Lanka
Salman Agha (captain), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmad, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Nafay (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wk), Usman Tariq
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Subhradeep Choudhury
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