Pakistan have put forward a 15-man squad for the men’s T20 World Cup, even though no one inside the camp can yet say with certainty that the team will actually travel. Government clearance is still pending, and the PCB has indicated it will follow whatever directive comes from Islamabad.
Key details first. Babar Azam, out of the T20 side since last winter, is in. Haris Rauf, fresh from topping the wicket charts in the Big Bash, is not. The only change from the party named for the upcoming T20 series in Australia is Mohammad Wasim Jnr dropping out. Salman Agha keeps the captaincy he was handed for that tour.
Head coach and selector Aaqib Javed stressed that the job at hand was simply to pick players, not decide geopolitics. “We are selectors, and our job is to pick the team. We’ve announced the team very close to the deadline. The government will decide on our participation so I can say nothing on that front. That’s what the chairman has said, too, so we’ll wait for their decision.”
With the ICC deadline of 30 January looming, the panel had little scope to judge form during the Australia trip, which does not begin until the 29th. That lack of game time, Javed hinted privately, counted against Rauf, who has not played a T20 international since conceding 31 runs in his last two overs of the Asia Cup final defeat to India in Dubai. Coaches still admire his raw pace but feel the pecking order has shifted in favour of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and the uncapped right-armer Usman Tariq.
Babar’s recall had been widely trailed. A senior PCB official remarked earlier this week that the batting group remains “a touch light on experience”, a gap the former captain fills. Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan give the top order left-right options, while Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz cover spin and lower-order hitting.
The squad: Salman Agha (capt), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Nafay (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wk), Usman Tariq.
If the green light arrives, Pakistan will open their campaign in Group 2 alongside England, South Africa and Sri Lanka. If not, the ICC faces the awkward task of finding a late replacement nation—never ideal, but far from unprecedented in tournament cricket.
For now, players train, selectors wait, and fans can only hope bureaucracy moves faster than Shaheen’s new-ball spell.
