CRICKET – PAKISTAN have dropped Salman Ali Agha as T20 captain and left him out of the squad for this month’s Sri Lanka series, the country’s cricket board said yesterday while naming squads for the T20 series and ODI tri-series against Sri Lanka and England.
Sahibzada Farhan has been handed the T20 captaincy after leading Pakistan to a silver medal at the Asian Games and finishing as the T20 World Cup’s leading run-scorer with 383 at a strike rate of 160 in March.
Agha remains part of the ODI setup, where Shaheen Shah Afridi retains the captaincy for the tri-series. Former captain Babar Azam has also been included in the ODI squad.
Hasan Nawaz, who scored 96 in the Asian Games final against India, had returned to the T20I side after a year, and retains his place for the series against Sri Lanka.
Before the Asian Games, Nawaz had last played a T20I in November 2025, falling out of favour after a poor Asia Cup and a string of low scores.
Naseem Shah, whose last game in the format came at the T20 World Cup in February, returns to the side as well. He has also been named in the squad for the ODI tri-series that immediately follows the T20Is against Sri Lanka. Naseem had suffered a knee injury at the PSL in April, but has since built up his bowling workloads in domestic cricket while also playing in the CPL.
Pakistan’s three-match T20 series against Sri Lanka begins on Friday in Rawalpindi, while the ODI tri-series starts on October 18 with Pakistan facing Sri Lanka in the opener.
Pakistan T20 squad for series against Sri Lanka: Sahibzada Farhan (capt), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Arafat Minhas, Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Nawaz, Muhammad Imran Randhawa, Khawaja Nafay (wk), Maaz Sadaqat, Naseem Shah, Razaullah, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Shadab Khan, Sufiyan Moqim.
Pakistan ODI squad for tri-series with Sri Lanka and England: Shaheen Shah Afridi (capt), Abrar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wk), Haris Rauf, Hasan Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Razaullah, Saad Baig (wk), Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Sufiyan Moqim.
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