Pakistan announces squad for New Zealand ODIs
PCB is all set to announce the names for the upcoming series against New Zealand for 5 ODIs after conducting fitness tests of 18 probable players
Pakistan Squad:
In the batting order, Azhar Ali makes his comeback in place of Ahmed Shehzad after recovering from his knee injury. He was in England for treatment and he announced his return in domestic cricket with a blistering 118 run inning in his first match against HBL.
Ahmed Shehzad has been excluded again regardless of his explosive performance in T10 league. He has scored 125 runs at an average of 31.25 with the strike rate of 204.91. Ahmed has been really consistent in domestic cricket but unfortunately he has never been able to express the same in international format. Ahmed in his previous comeback series against Srilanka scored only 8 runs in 2 innings, including a duck after conceding 12 deliveries.
Aamer Yamin has replaced injured Junaid Khan in the squad. Junaid is suffering from a fatigue fracture after the ball stuck his foot in Bangladesh Premier League 2017. Junaid has been advised to rest by PCB officials, this move might be an effort to confirm his presence for New Zealand test series. Aamer who played his last ODI match in 2015 against Zimbabwe finally makes his way back to the ODI squad. Recently, he took 4wickets in T10 league and has also scored 32 runs in 2 innings.
Usman Shinwari, bowler who took the famous fifer of 21 balls against Sri Lanka is out for at least 6 months due to his back injury. The medical screenings clearly showed a lumbar-bone stress in his back. Muhammad Amir makes it back to the squad as he has recovered from the shin injury that he suffered during the 2nd test against Sri Lanka where the doctors suggested him to rest for 2-3 weeks. . After his recovery he has been really phenomenal with the bowl again in BPL17. He has taken 4 wickets in 3 matches with an economy rate of 6.41 and an average of 19.25.
The left arm spin all-rounder, M. Nawaz also strides towards the squad after Imad Wasim’s knee injury. As the chief selector quoted:
Imad Wasim [is] again feeling discomfort in his knee. He has been told to work on his fitness at the National Cricket Academy.
Nawaz played his last ODI in this January but he was consistently struggling to cement his position due to presence of the trio of Hafeez, Imad and Shadab. However, with Imad being injured and Hafeez being banned, Nawaz finally jumps back in. However, Shadab has been lethal with his leg spin in ongoing BBL’17 season. He has taken 4 wickets in just 2 matches and by catching big fishes like Luke Wright and Glenn Maxwell, to retain a well-deserved spot in the team..
