LAHORE: Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has been named skipper of the Pakistan ‘A’ side for two one-dayers and a T20 match against Afghanistan which will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium from Feb 11 to 13.
The Afghanistan team will also play three one-day matches against regional teams, which have also been announced.
Afridi, who is going through a lean period and has been confined to only the Pakistan T20 squad, had asked the selectors to give him a chance against Afghanistan in order to regain his form.
He has thus, been named as captain so that he can get back in form ahead of the selection of the Pakistan team for the upcoming One-day International and Twenty20 International series against South Africa, which will be played after the ongoing Test series.
Besides Afridi, other prominent players named in the ‘A’ team are Umar Akmal (both one-day and T20), Fawad Alam (one-day), Kamran Akmal (only one-day), Wahab Riaz (one-day), Ahmed Shehzad (T20), Umar Amin (one-day and T20), Zulfiqar Babar (one-day and T20).
Ahead of the series against Pakistan ‘A’, Afghanistan face a team comprising players from Karachi and Hyderabad on Feb 6 at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad.
They then face off against a team made up of players from Multan and Bahawalpur on Feb 8 at the Multan Cricket Stadium before squaring off against a combined team of Rawalpindi and Faisalabad on Feb 10 at the Gaddafi Stadium.
The Afghans face Pakistan ‘A’ in the opening one-dayer on Feb 12 before squaring off again a day later. The T20 game will be played on Feb 13.
Squads:
Pakistan ‘A’: Both one-day and T20 teams: Umar Akmal, Ali Waqas, Umar Amin, Shahid Afridi (captain), Zulfiqar Babar, Adnan Rasool. One-day: Shan Masood, Khurram Manzoor, Fawad Alam, Kamran Akmal, Anwar Ali, Wahab Riaz, Yasir Shah. T20: Ahmed Shahzad, Sharjeel Khan, Mohammad Rizwan, Asad Ali, Ahmed Jamal, Ali Khan, Sohaib Maqsood, Imran Khan. Regional teams: Karachi Blues, Karachi Whites and Hyderabad: Shahid Afridi (captain), Khurram Manzoor, Rizwan Ahmad, Aqeel Anjum, Mohammad Waqas, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Mir Ali Talpur, Mohtashim Ali, Atif Maqbool, Faraz Ahmed Khan, Zahid Mahmood, Mohammad Sami, Tabish Khan, Zafar Ali, Fawad Alam. Multan and Bahawalpur: Kamran Hussain (captain), Naved Yasin, Sohaib Maqsood, Usman Tariq, Usman Liaquat, Gulraiz Sadaf, Zulfiqar Babar, Ahsan Nazir, Mohammad Talha, Rizwan Haider, Shahan Akram, Rehan Rafiq, Imranullah Aslam, Zain Abbas.Faisalabad and Rawalpindi: Sohail Tanvir (captain), Awais Zia, Asif Ali, Abid Ali, Umar Waheed, Hammad Azam, Naeem Anjum, Babar Azam, Zohaib Ahmed, Hasan Mahmood, Sami Aslam, Samiullah Khan Niazi, Nasir Malik, Mohammad Nawaz, Usman Qadir, Asad Ali.
