Lahore: Pakistan on Wednesday announced an extended 35-man squad for their three T20Is and two Tests during the upcoming tour of New Zealand, which begins in December.
Babar Azam will lead a 35-man Pakistan squad, featuring five uncapped players : Zeeshan Malik, Danish Aziz, Imran Butt, Rohail Nazir and Amad Butt.
Meanwhile, a few of the more experienced players such as Mohammad Amir, Shoaib Malik and Asad Shafiq were left out of the Babar Azam-led unit.
On Pakistan’s previous Test assignment, Shafiq endured a rough patch, scoring just 67 runs from five innings at 13.40 in England. Those performances may have led to the omission of the 34-year-old batsman.
Both Malik and Amir had been overlooked for the recently concluded white-ball series against Zimbabwe as well.
The teams will play three T20Is between 18-22 December, while the two ICC World Test Championship matches will get underway with the Boxing Day contest followed by the final game of the tour starting on January 3.
Pakistan squad: Abid Ali, Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Shan Masood, Zeeshan Malik, Babar Azam (c), Azhar Ali, Danish Aziz, Fawad Alam, Haider Ali, Haris Sohail, Hussain Talat, Imran Butt, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Rizwan, Rohail Nazir, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Usman Qadir, Yasir Shah, Zafar Gohar, Amad Butt, Faheem Ashraf, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Hasnain, Musa Khan, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz.