The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Friday named top-order batter Sahibzada Farhan as the captain of the Pakistan Shaheens team for the two four-day matches against Bangladesh A in Darwin, Australia, this month.
On the tour, Pakistan Shaheens are also scheduled to play two 50-over matches and nine-team T20 tournament in Darwin. The captain for the white-ball series will be announced in due course.
Meanwhile, pacer Hunain Shah has been ruled out of the series due to injury. The right-armer has been replaced by all-rounder Qasim Akram.
The Pakistan Shaheens squad will leave for Australia in the wee hours of Saturday via Dubai.
Pakistan Shaheens squad
Haseebullah, Qasim Akram, Kamran Ghulam, Kashif Ali, Khurram Shahzad, Mehran Mumtaz, Mohammad Huraira, Mubasir Khan, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Omair Bin Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan (c), Shahnawaz Dahani, Tayyab Tahir and Umar Amin.
Earlier, the Pakistan Cricket Board confirmed that a pre-season fitness and fielding camp and Pakistan Shaheens’ training camp will take place at the Hanif Mohammad High Performance Centre in Karachi.
25 cricketers attended the pre-season camp from 24 June to 7 July. The squad was reduced to 15-member Pakistan Shaheens squad that took part in a training camp from 8-13 July to prepare for their tour to Darwin.
“In Darwin, Pakistan Shaheens will play two four-day matches against Bangladesh ‘A’, two 50-over matches against Northern Territory and Bangladesh, and also participate in the nine-team Top End T20 Series,” the PCB said in a press release last month.
“Pakistan red-ball head coach Jason Gillespie will supervise the Pakistan Shaheens’ training camp from 8-13 July and will also travel to Darwin as the team’s head coach. He will return to Pakistan after the second four-day match against Bangladesh ‘A’, which finishes on 29 July, to assume responsibilities as the national side’s head coach and commence preparations for the two-Test series against Bangladesh.
“The pre-season fitness and fielding camp will be supervised by Mohammad Masroor, who will also travel to Darwin as Assistant Coach-cum-Manager. Abdul Rehman will be the white-ball head coach and will join the Pakistan Shaheens side on 28 July for the two 50-over and Top End T20 Series matches from 4-18 August.”
Schedule (all matches in Darwin)
14 Jul – Arrival in Darwin
19-22 Jul – Four-day vs Bangladesh ‘A’
26-29 Jul – Four-day vs Bangladesh ‘A’
4 Aug – 50-over match vs Northern Territory (NT)
6 Aug – 50 over match vs Bangladesh ‘A’
9-18 Aug - Nine-team Top End T20 Series
