Hobart, Nov 18 (IANS) Pakistan made two notable changes to their playing eleven for the final T20I of their three-match series against Australia at the Bellerive Oval on Monday as regular captain Mohammad Rizwan has been rested with Salman Ali Agha shouldering the captain’s responsibility.
With the series already lost 0-2, besdies Rizwan, the team management decided to rest pace spearhead Naseem Shah while 21-year-old left-arm pacer Jahandad Khan was handed his international debut.
While Pakistan did not officially confirm the reasons behind Rizwan’s absence, it is believed that the decision was taken to rest the wicketkeeper-batter, who has been a consistent figure in both formats of the series.
Similarly, Naseem , who played a crucial role in Pakistan’s historic ODI series win, was rested after enduring a gruelling schedule that included an injury scare in the first ODI. Meanwhile, Jahandad’s inclusion came on the back of an impressive performance in domestic cricket.
The first match of the series, curtailed to a seven-over contest due to rain, saw Pakistan collapse to 64 all out while chasing 94. The second match saw a middling total of 148 slip away as Pakistan were bundlled out for 134 with two balls to spare.
Pakistan XI for the third T2OI vs Australia:
Salman Ali Agha (c), Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Haseebullah Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Abbas, Shaheen Afridi, Jahandad Khan, Haris Rauf, and Sfyan Moqim.
–IANS
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