The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced the 15-men Pakistan World Cup 2023 Squad, which was announced on Friday morning.
Chief selector Inzamam ul-Haq, who was responsible for the 2019 squad as well, announced the final squad of the Pakistan Cricket Team at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore.
Along with the 15, they have announced three reserve players who will be travelling with the team.
The majority of players named for the squad are the same who played in the 2023 Asia Cup with the exception of a couple of changes.
Here’s the complete squad:
| # | Player | Role | Bat style | Bowl style |
| 56 | Babar Azam (C) | Batsman | Right | RH off-break |
| 67 | Abdullah Shafique | Batsman | Right | RH off-break |
| 97 | Agha Salman | All Rounder | Right | RH off-break |
| 95 | Fakhar Zaman | Batsman | Left | LH off-break |
| 26 | Haris Rauf | Bowler | Right | RH Fast |
| 29 | Hassan Ali | Bowler | Right | RH Fast |
| 21 | Iftikhar Ahmed | All Rounder | Right | RH off-break |
| 16 | Imam ul-Haq | Batsman | Left | – |
| 74 | Mohammad Nawaz | All Rounder | Left | LH off-break |
| 32 | Mohammad Rizwan (wk) | WK-BAT | Right | – |
| 59 | Mohammad Wasim Jnr | All Rounder | Right | RH Fast |
| 7 | Saud Shakeel | Batsman | Right | LH off-break |
| 10 | Shadab Khan (VC) | All Rounder | Right | RH leg break |
| 31 | Shaheen Afridi | Bowler | Left | RH Fast |
| 24 | Usama Mir | Bowler | Left | RH Leg-break |
| Reserves | ||||
| 10 | Abrar Ahmed | Bowler | Right | RH Leg-break |
| 31 | Mohammad Haris | WK-BAT | Right | – |
| 24 | Zaman Khan | Bowler | Right | RH Fast |
Also Read: A look at Pakistan’s World Cup 2023 kit and their previous jerseys
Pakistan World Cup 2023 Squad: Who’s In and Who’s Out?
The squad is almost the same as the Asia Cup 2023 one.
Naseem Shah, who was injured midway through the Asia Cup, was expected to be dropped. According to the medical staff, he is out for at least six months for his shoulder injury. Naseem, who has been Pakistan’s primary weapon alongside Shaheen, will be a huge miss. Hassan Ali replaces him.
Also Read: Naseem Shah’s Injury Woes: A Setback for Pakistan’s World Cup Hopes
Saud Shakeel, who was originally in for the Afghanistan ODI series, made a late cut into both tournament squads and Tayyab Tahir missed out.
Reserved Players
- Abrar Ahmed
- M Haris
- Zaman Khan
With the lack of spin power exposed in the Asian competition, there were talks of bringing additional spinners to the side. Leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed was called up due to his excellent wicket-taking abilities.
M Haris, who was initially in the 15 for the Asia Cup, has been named in the reserves.
Zaman Khan, who came as a replacement in the recently concluded tournament, was also drafted into the reserves. He bowled exceptionally well in Pakistan’s two-wicket loss to Sri Lanka.
Pakistan Squad: Performances in the last tournament
Pakistan ended outside of the top four the last time they played a 50-over competition. The format of the tournament was the same as for this one; 10 teams competing in a single round robin.
Under the leadership of Sarfaraz Ahmed, they played nine games and won five. They were tied on the same points with New Zealand but due to the green team’s horrible Net Run Rate, which they suffered against the West Indies in their opener, knocked them out.
Before gaining their first win against England in their second game, Sarfaraz Ahmed-led side were coming off an eleven-match losing streak, which is easily their worst losing streak record in their One Day cricket.
Pakistan World Cup 2023 Squad: What are we expecting this time?
After a long time, this One Day international side has been the most united and well-settled squad the country has seen. Some considered it the best ODI unit since 1999. The team has indeed achieved some wonderful results post-2019.
Since Babar Azam took over the leadership in this format in 2020, Pakistan have lost only two series in this three-year time period and won series against Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Such results saw Babar becoming the first Pakistan skipper to win more than two SENA bilateral series wins. This resulted in the national team becoming the No.1 ODI side for the first time in April earlier this year.
The expectations are very high with many predicting Babar’s men to be at least in the top fours in this mega event. Some predict them to be in the final while few consider them as champions. Despite a horrible end to the Asia Cup 2023, Pakistan are a team to watch out for.
The 2023 World Cup will be played in India starting on October 5 and will conclude on November 17.
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