Azhar Mahmood
Before Pakistan’s upcoming matches against New Zealand, their new head coach, Azhar Mahmood, talked about the team, who will play, how they will play, and their plans.
Pakistan will play 12 T20 matches to prepare for the T20 World Cup. They will play five against New Zealand, three against Ireland, and four against England.
The first matches against New Zealand will have Mohammad Amir and Imad Wasim playing for Pakistan again. They decided to come back to international cricket after taking a break.
Mohammad Amir did well for Quetta Gladiators in the Pakistan Super League by getting 10 wickets. Imad Wasim also played great for Islamabad United, scoring 126 runs and getting 12 wickets to help them win the title.
Mahmood is happy that Amir and Imad are back on the Pakistan team. He thinks having them back will help the team do better.
Mahmood says the team is good in all parts of the game. They have two players who are good at everything, and their fast bowlers are strong, too. Having Amir and Imad back makes the team even better because they can play whenever needed.
He thinks Pakistan’s batting lineup is the best it can be.
Mahmood believes in the talent of the Pakistan team. He hopes they can do even better than before in the T20 World Cup.
Our team’s strong suit is our natural talent and skills. We’ve done well in T20 cricket on the world stage, reaching the finals in 2022 and the semis in 2021.
The last time we won a major tournament was in 2009, and the Champions Trophy was in 2017. But don’t count us out, especially in T20 matches.
With a strong and deep squad, Mahmood will use the upcoming matches to determine the best lineup for the big T20 World Cup. He wants to see where we can improve and give our bench players a chance to shine.
We want to create a plan and structure for our team before the World Cup. We want everyone to know their roles. We have some young players like Irfan Niazi, Azam Khan, and Usman Khan, so we want to give them a chance to show what they can do. We also want to ensure our bench players get some time on the field.
But at the same time, we also need to know who our best players are for the first game of the World Cup on June 6th.
Our team has many good batters, including Babar Azam, Saim Ayub, Usman Khan, and Fakhar Zaman. Although we have many top-order batters, we’ve used Fakhar Zaman as a middle-order player. We’ve added Irfan Niazi and Azam Khan to the middle order to balance out our team’s power and skill. This mix of players will work well for us.
When asked why some of New Zealand’s main players weren’t playing, Mahmood said they’re not thinking less of the visiting team. He repeated that in T20 cricket, there are no weak teams.
The New Zealand team might have yet to have its top players this time, but it still has some promising players. While it might have less international experience, it has played many T20 matches in its domestic league.
Even though they might be less experienced, the New Zealand players will still try their best to show they deserve a spot in the World Cup team. In T20 cricket, every team is strong.
The five-match series starts in Rawalpindi on April 18th.
The Pakistan squad for the upcoming matches includes Babar Azam as the captain, along with players like Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Amir, Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Usama Mir, Usman Khan, and Zaman Khan.
Some players are listed as reserves for the Pakistan team but won’t travel with the main squad. These reserves include Haseebullah Khan, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Sahibzada Farhan, and Salman Ali Agha.
Pakistan is in Group A for the T20 World Cup, where they’ll be facing teams like India, USA, Ireland, and Canada. Their first match in the tournament is against the USA, and it’s scheduled to take place in Dallas on June 6th.
