Babar Azam returns to lead Pakistan in home white-ball series against New Zealand

Babar Azam on Tuesday returned to lead the Pakistan team for the ODI and T20 home series against New Zealand, starting on April 4. In addition to Babar, left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi returned to international cricket for the first time since the T20 World Cup in Australia last November.

Despite bowling and captaining the Lahore Qalandars to their second consecutive Pakistan Super League title last month, Shaheen was ruled out of a home Test series against England and then New Zealand due to a knee injury.

The national selectors rested Babar, Shaheen, Haris Rauf, Fakhar Zaman, and Muhammad Rizwan for Pakistan's recent T20 series against Afghanistan in Sharjah, in which Pakistan lost 1-2.

All five seniors returned to the side for the five ODIs and five T20 internationals against New Zealand, which will be played in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Karachi from April 14 to May 7.

The selectors also retained three of the youngsters who went to Sharjah and debuted against Afghanistan -- opener Saim Ayub and fast bowlers Ihsanullah and



Zaman Khan.

Pakistan made significant changes to their T20I squad for the series against Afghanistan, which they lost 2-1, bringing in PSL players to test their bench strength. Imad Wasim has been named to both squads for the upcoming series after being recalled to the T20I squad for that series.

Azam Khan, Abdullah Shafique, and Mohammad Wasim Junior were dropped from the T20I squad, while Ihsanullah was given his first ODI call.

SQUADS:

T20I: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Ihsanullah, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood and Zaman Khan

ODI: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haris Sohail, Ihsanullah, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood and Usama Mir. Reserves: Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed and Tayyab Tahir.