All-rounder Imad Wasim returns to Pakistan’s T20I squad, after a gap of almost a year, for a three-match series against Australia starting next week. Babar Azam will stay back in the UAE after the ongoing Test series as he also returns to the shorter-format. Uncapped left-arm medium-fast, Waqas Maqsood, has also been included in a 15-member squad for his performances in the ongoing domestic season and during the T20 series between Pakistan ‘A’ against New Zealand ‘A’ at the ICC Academy.
Imad last turned out for Pakistan on October 29, 2017 when Sri Lanka toured Lahore for the last match of the three-match T20I series. An injury in his knee ruled him out of Pakistan’s tour of New Zealand late last year and since he has been out of the side due to fitness concerns. Last month, he was axed from the Asia Cup squad since he was the only player to have failed fitness tests from the preliminary 18-member squad. Mohammad Nawaz has made the way for him.
Babar was ruled out of Pakistan’s previous T20I outing – a tri-nation series against Zimbabwe and Australia in Zimbabwe – as he recovered from a fracture in his arm that he sustained during the Lord’s Test in May. The blow that he sustained while batting off Ben Stokes’ bowling had ruled him out of the Test series.
Thirty-year-old Maqsood was recently made a part of Pakistan ‘A’ squads that played a solitary four-day warm-up match against the Australian side and three T20Is against New Zealand ‘A’. Maqsood took two wickets for 66 in the warm-up match. But, he put up an impressive run in the T20 series picking up five wickets at an average of 8.8 runs. Earlier this year, he was the highest wicket-taker in the Pakistan Cup, country’s premier one-day tournament, with 14 wickets in five matches at an average of 15.07.
