Pakistan have recalled all-rounder Faheem Ashraf and included Tayyab Tahir for the first time in the 17-man squad for the impending series against Afghanistan and Asia Cup.
Faheem last appeared in an ODI in 2021, after which he was hampered by ailments and a decline in form. Pakistan’s preference for seam-bowling all-rounders has led to his recall, while Tahir has been rewarded for his outstanding domestic performances. In the recently concluded Emerging Asia Cup final, where he scored a century, he was also among the run scorers.
“Preference has been given to Faheem Ashraf, since the squad doesn’t have another allrounder,” Pakistan’s newly-appointed chief national men’s selector Inzamam-ul-Haq said at a press conference. “If you look at PSL and other tournaments, he was in good form. And we need an allrounder, he is a fast-bowling allrounder, which we need at the World Cup.”
Saud Shakeel, a batsman who bats in the middle order, returns to the ODI squad for the Afghanistan series. The rest of the players retain their positions from the recent home series against New Zealand. Pakistan has dismissed fast bowler Ihsanullah, middle-order batter Haris Sohail, and top-order batter Shan Masood from this bilateral assignment in order to finalize their World Cup pool in India.
“Shan has performed very well on the whole across formats. Unfortunately, his performances in ODIs have gone down. We have a list of 20-21 players, and Shan is part of that. But Saud Shakeel and a couple of other players were impressive recently, so we have to leave out Shan. But he is a part of our plans,” said the former Pakistan captain, who is in his second stint at chief selector.
Squad: Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Haris, Imam-ul-Haq, Fakhar Zaman, Ifthikar Ahmed, Abdullah Shafique, Saud Shakeel, Tayyab Tahir, Salman Ali Agha, Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Usama Mir, Mohammad Wasim Jr
