Pakistan Cricket Team Departs For Newzealand Tour

The Pakistan cricket team departed for New Zealand to play three T20is and two tests in the early hours of Monday, the Pakistan Cricket Board said on Monday.

Pakistan are scheduled to play three T20Is and two Tests during the tour.

The 20-over games will be played on December 18, 20, and 22 whereas the two Test matches are scheduled to be played on December 26 and January 3.

The two teams will play the matches in Auckland, Hamilton, Napier, Mount Maunganui and Christchurch.

Earlier, Captain Babar Azam in the pre-departure press conference had said that the team is motivated and ready to face the Kiwis. He also said that he had no pressure of captaincy on him as the PCB was backing him to concentrate on batting.

Must Read: No Pressure For Captaincy, Says Babar Azam

Pakistan’s squad for the tour includes: Mohammad Abbas, Shaheen Afridi, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Iftikhar Ahmed, Fawad Alam, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Haider Ali, Imam-Ul-Haq, Faheem Ashraf, Babar Azam, Danish Aziz, Imran Butt, Amad Butt, Zafar Gohar, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Shadab Khan, Sohail Khan, Zeeshan Malik, Shan Masood, Mohammad Musa, Rohail Nazir, Usman Qadir, Haris Rauf, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Abdullah Shafique, Khushdil Shah, Yasir Shah, Naseem Shah, Haris Sohail, Hussain Talat, Imad Wasim

Batsman Fakhar Zaman has been ruled out of the tour to New Zealand. Fakhar is suffering from fever and has not recovered in time for the Pakistan squad’s departure for the tour.

The decision to withdraw Fakhar from the tour was made keeping the health of the rest of the squad members as a top priority.

On the other hand, the PCB and selector Misbah ul Haq has rested bowler Mohammad Amir and batsman Shoaib Malik to rest for the coming tour.

“Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Amir are not part of the white-ball matches as for this tour we have opted to invest, develop and focus on the promising and emerging players who are likely to be available to Pakistan for all formats,” said Misbah-ul-Haq.