Shan Masood gets maiden call-up, lead Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi named in T20 World Cup squad

World Cup in Australia. A fit again Shaheen Shah Afridi has also been named in the squad. Masood, who captained Derbyshire in the Vitality Blast in England and did outstandingly well in red and white ball formats, replaces Zaman who is out with a knee injury. Fakhar, despite being discarded for the World Cup and home series against England, has been named as a travelling reserve for the World Cup.

Chief selector Muhammad Wasim announced the World Cup squad besides 18 players for the home series of seven T20 matches against England in Karachi and Lahore at the PCB headquarters in Lahore on Thursday. While the selectors have avoided any experiments in the World Cup squad, they have named two uncapped players, allrounder Aamir Jamal and mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed in the home squad besides including a reserve wicketkeeper batsman in Muhammad Haris. Wasim said despite the fact that there was concern over the failures of the middle and lower order batting in the Asia Cup they had decided to stick with the same set of players who had been playing in the T20 setup since last year's World Cup in UAE. "We have reposed faith in the same set of players who have won us matches frequently in this format and we also feel these players brought us several positive victories," the former Test batsman said.

Conceding that Pakistan's batting was a problem in the Asia Cup he said the team's strength remained the opening pair of captain Babar Azam and keeper Muhammad Rizwan. The good news for Pakistan was the return of tall left arm pacer and lynchpin of the bowling attack, Afridi who has not played any cricket since mid July due to a knee injury. Shaheen, who is under treatment in London, is expected to resume bowling in the nets in early