Haris Rauf Dropped as Pakistan Name T20 World Cup Squad

News Desk 

Lahore: Pakistan on Sunday announced a 15-member squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026, with express pacer Haris Rauf being the notable omission from the team selected for the tournament to be jointly hosted by India and Sri Lanka from February 7 to March 8.

The squad was unveiled during a press conference at the Gaddafi Stadium addressed by PCB Director High Performance and member of the men’s national selection committee Aqib Javed, Pakistan’s T20I captain Salman Ali Agha, and white-ball head coach Michael James Hesson.

Explaining the decision, Aqib Javed said the selection was made with local conditions in mind. “Rauf has played a lot of cricket for Pakistan, but we kept conditions in Sri Lanka in mind while selecting the squad,” he told the media.

Despite his omission, Rauf remains Pakistan’s highest wicket-taker in T20 internationals with 133 wickets in 94 matches and recently claimed 20 wickets in Australia’s Big Bash League.

Read More: https://thepenpk.com/icc-drops-bangladesh-names-scotland-for-t20-world-cup/

Salman Ali Agha will lead the side, while several players — including Faheem Ashraf, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Sahibzada Farhan and Usman Tariq — have earned their maiden T20 World Cup call-ups.

Among the selected players, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan and Usman Khan bring prior World Cup experience, having featured in one or more editions since 2021.

Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, who was declared fit, has been included alongside Naseem Shah and the relatively inexperienced Salman Mirza to form Pakistan’s pace attack.

Pakistan have been placed in Group A and will open their campaign against the Netherlands on February 7 in Colombo. Under an arrangement agreed last year due to political tensions, Pakistan will play all their World Cup matches in Sri Lanka and will not travel to India. Other teams in Group A include India, Namibia, the United States and the Netherlands.

Read More: https://thepenpk.com/babar-azam-departs-sydney-sixers-before-bbl-final-clash/

The 20-team tournament will see each side play four group matches, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the Super Eight stage, followed by the knockout rounds. Teams are allowed to make changes to their squads for any reason until January 31, and thereafter with the approval of the Event Technical Committee.

As part of their final preparations for the World Cup, Pakistan will host Australia in a three-match T20I series at the Gaddafi Stadium on January 29, 31 and February 1, with the national camp beginning today.

Pakistan Squad for T20 World Cup:

Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wk) and Usman Tariq.