Babar Azam: “We definitely pondered about this and thus included youngsters like Usman Khan, Irfan (Khan) Niazi and Azam Khan to address the spots on which we were lacking in the past and obviously, we already had Iftikhar in the mix”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan limited overs captain Babar Azam believes Usman Khan, Irfan Khan and Azam Khan are all capable of solving the national team’s middle order woes in T20I cricket.
All three of them have featured for Pakistan in the shortest format, with Usman and Irfan having made their debuts in the recent five-match T20I series against New Zealand.
Azam, meanwhile, was supposed to play but got ruled out of the series due to a grade one tear in his right calf muscle.
Acknowledging that he already has Iftikhar Ahmed as one of his go-to middle order batsmen, Babar hopes the trio can step up and cement their spots in the team through consistently strong performances.
“We definitely pondered about this and thus included youngsters like Usman Khan, Irfan (Khan) Niazi and Azam Khan to address the spots on which we were lacking in the past and obviously, we already had Iftikhar in the mix,” he was quoted as saying by A Sports.
Next up for Pakistan will be a three-match T20I series against Ireland from May 10 to 14.
After that, they will play four T20Is against England from May 22 to May 30.
Pakistan Squad for Ireland and England T20I Series: Babar Azam (capt), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan
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