Lahore:Pakistan head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq on Monday named 22 probables for the ODI and T20I series against Zimbabwe.
Shoaib Malik, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Mohammad Amir were left out of the probables list while uncapped Abdullah Shafiq got a call-up after doing well in the National T20 Cup.
Shafiq, who plays for Central Punjab recently finished as the seventh most successful batsman in the National T20 Cup. He scored 358 runs with a strike-rate of over 133 and even scored a hundred on his T20 debut.
"Abdullah Shafiq has been rewarded for his tremendous potential and performance. He has been identified as a future prospect and, therefore, drafted into the squad as part of his development," PCB quoted Misbah as saying.
"Seniors like Shoaib Malik and Sarfaraz Ahmed have not been picked for this series, but I want to categorically state that their careers are not over by any means as performance remains the only criterion for selection," he added.
Pakistan have not played ODIs since the home series against Sri Lanka a year ago and the matches against Zimbabwe will be part of ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Super League from which the seven top-ranked sides, apart from hosts India, will qualify directly for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023.
The probables will assemble in Lahore on October 21 for Covid-19 testing and will observe a five-day isolation period. During this period, they will play two 50-over matches at the Gaddafi Stadium before traveling to Rawalpindi on October 26.
Pakistan play three ODIs against Zimbabwe starting October 30 before moving to Lahore for the three T20Is. The probables for that series will be shortlisted after the ODIs.
Probables list: Abdullah Shafiq, Abid Ali, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Sohail, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Rizwan, Rohail Nazir, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Usman Qadir, Zafar Gohar, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Musa Khan, Shaheen Shah, Wahab Riaz(UNI)
