Pakistan eye collection win in opposition to New Zealand to kick off T20 World Cup preparations

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Pakistan are set to face New Zealand in a five-match T20I collection, with the primary match scheduled to be performed on Friday at Eden Park in Auckland.

This can mark left-arm pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi’s first task as captain, having taken over the reins from Babar Azam.

Fourth-ranked Pakistan final performed T20s again in April 2023, after they confronted New Zealand at residence for a five-match collection performed in Lahore and Rawalpindi.

Wicketkeeper batter Mohammad Rizwan, who has been named Shaheen’s vice-captain, was Pakistan’s main run-getter in that collection whereas right-arm pacer Haris Rauf was essentially the most profitable bowler.

Leg-spinner Usama Mir, pacer Mohammad Abbas Afridi and wicketkeeper batter Haseebullah are the uncapped gamers within the squad whereas the returning trio of Sahibzada Farhan, Azam Khan and Aamir Jamal additionally provides depth to the squad.

Spinner Abrar Ahmed, who was initially a part of the squad, has been dominated out owing to an harm he sustained final month throughout Pakistan’s Take a look at tour of Australia.

Shaheen Shah Afridi, within the pre-series press convention, the video of which has been shared by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) stated: “It’s a nice honour and a proud second to be captaining Pakistan. We’re T20 facet and that has mirrored in our performances the previous few years. We now have achieved properly in World Cups however haven’t been in a position to end as we wished. We’ll concentrate on getting the outcomes we wish in huge tournaments.

“We now have 17 video games earlier than the World Cup, which is later this yr. We wish to ensure that we have now our mixture locked in time for that however we additionally wish to be certain that we have now a powerful bench, in case of accidents throughout the match. We will likely be testing our youthful expertise and rotating the gamers in order that by the point we play the collection in England, we have now readability about our mixture.”

Pakistan’s squad for tour of New Zealand: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain, wicket-keeper), Aamir Jamal, Abbas Afridi, Azam Khan (wicket-keeper), Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah (wicket-keeper), Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Usama Mir and Zaman Khan.

 Full schedule:
1st T20 – 12 January 2024 at Eden Park, Auckland
2nd T20 – 14 January 2024 at Seddon Park, Hamilton
third T20 – 17 January 2024 at College Oval, Dunedin
4th T20 – 19 January 2024 at Hagley Oval, Christchurch
fifth T20 – 21 January 2024 at Hagley Oval, Christchurch

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