25 players named for strike-force camp

Former all-rounder Razzaq to supervise the 90-day-long camp

Pakistan’s young middle-order batter Haider Ali has been named among 25 players, called up for the ‘strike-force’ camp, scheduled to commence here on Monday.

According to the details, the 90-day-long camp will feature country's top batters with power-hitting ability and will be supervise by former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq.

The selected players including Haider, Khushdil Shah, Khawaja Nafay and Abbas Afridi, are set to report for the camp on Sunday. As a result, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has ordered releasing the selected players from their respective departmental teams for the ongoing President's Trophy Grade-I.

The move is a part of PCB's plans to infuse young talent to the national T20 squad, a transition, which according to the sources is aimed to be completed within a year.

It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan have consistently been facing setbacks in the shortest format.

The green shirts played their first bilateral T20I series against Australia last month since their disastrous ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 campaign. The Mohammad Rizwan-led side, who secured a historic victory in the prior ODI series, failed to end their woes in the format as they suffered a 3-0 series whitewash.

The green shirts then featured in a three-match T20I series against Zimbabwe, where they prevailed 2-1 failed to stamp their authority after losing the final fixture. The national team kicked off their ongoing tour to South Africa with a three-match T20I series, which was won 2-0 by the hosts. The green shirts suffered defeats in the opening two T20Is, while the last fixture was abandoned due to rain.

Players selected for strike-force camp:

Abdul Samad, Haider Ali, Yasir Khan, Khushdil Shah, Muhammad Akhlaq, Imran Randhawa, Saad Masood, Mubasir Khan, Hassan Nawaz, Khawaja Nafay, Muhammad Amir Barki, Mohammad Faizan, Afaq Ahmed, Jahandad Khan, Amad Butt, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Usman Khan, Khayam Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Shawaiz Irfan, Basit Ali, Mohammad Faiq, Ali Imran, Sarwar Afridi and Nasir Nawaz.