Mohammad Nawaz, Iftikhar Ahmed Return to Pakistan Side for Sri Lanka ODIs

Pakistan chief selector and head coach Misbah-ul-Haq has handed all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz and batsman Iftikhar Ahmed ODI returns for the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka.

Nawaz had first catapulted into the national team reckoning with a number of standout performances in the first season of the Pakistan Super League.

The 25-year-old, however, struggled with the bat and didn’t do much with the ball either. This led to him being dropped from the ODI team after the Asia Cup last September.

Iftikhar, on the other hand, is making a return to the side after a longer period of time, having made the last of his two ODI appearances in 2015.

The 29-year-old did well in the domestic List A competition in April this year, scoring two hundreds and a fifty in three successive matches.

Paikstan’s squad for the three-ODI series does, however, include a few notable absentees.

Shaheen Afridi, Hasan Ali and Mohammad Hasnain – all of whom featured during the ICC World Cup in England this year – have been left out od the squad.

Mohammad Hafeez, who had a subpar tournament despite playing regularly, has also missed out whereas Shoaib Malik had retired and will only feature in T20Is going forward.

Afridi has been left out due to being diagnosed with dengue whereas Hasan is recovering from a back condition as well as a loss of form which saw him sit out the latter half of the World Cup.

The three-match ODI series begins in Karachi on September 27 and will be followed by three T20Is in Lahore.

Pakistan ODI squad: Sarfaraz Ahmed (c), Babar Azam, Abid Ali, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Hasnain, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan Shinwari, Wahab Riaz. ​