The Zimbabwe cricket team arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday to play two limited overs series against Pakistan.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials welcomed the visiting team at the airport. Players of the Zimbabwe team — who are visiting the country after five years — will spend their first week (Oct 21 to 27) in quarantine in Islamabad.

The team left on Monday morning from their home country with a travelling squad of 20 players.

Pakistan face Zimbabwe in three One-day Internationals — all matches being staged in Rawalpindi from Oct 30 — followed by as many T20 Internationals in Lahore from Nov 7 to 10.

Series schedule

• Oct 30 – 1st ODI, Rawalpindi
• Nov 1 – 2nd ODI, Rawalpindi
• Nov 3 – 3rd ODI, Rawalpindi
• Nov 7 – 1st T20I, Lahore
• Nov 8 – 2nd T20I, Lahore
• Nov 10 – 3rd T20I, Lahore

The Rawalpindi matches will be part of International Cricket Council (ICC) Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League from which the seven top-ranked sides, apart from hosts India, will qualify directly for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, according to a press release issued by the PCB a day earlier.

Pakistan squad

The trio of senior players including former captains Sarfaraz Ahmed and Shoaib Malik plus fast bowler Mohammad Amir were left out while uncapped players Abdullah Shafiq and Usman Qadir along with youngsters Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Musa Khan and Zafar Gohar were named by chief selector and head coach Misbahul Haq in a 22-member squad announced on Monday.

Leg-spinner Shadab Khan has been appointed as vice-captain in both ODI and T20 formats.

Besides two uncapped and three inexperienced players, the rest of the 17 squad members are experienced as Haq decided not to take the visiting Zimbabweans easy.

Squad: Babar Azam, Haider Ali, Abdullah Shafiq, Imamul Haq, Haris Sohail, Abid Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Hafeez, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Rizwan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Imad Wasim, Rohail Nazir, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Haris Rauf, Musa Khan, Wahab Riaz, Usman Qadir, Zafar Gohar.