Left-arm fast bowler Amad Butt earns maiden T20I call-up

Amad Butt, the uncapped 21-year-old fast bowler, has been included in Pakistan’s 13-man squad for the one-off T20 against England, at Old Trafford, next week. Sarfraz Ahmed who has been named as the captain of the T20 side will walk out as the skipper for the very first time. He has replaced Shahid Afridi.

Butt, has been in impressive form with the ball as he took 12 wickets in the recently concluded A series in England. He was also part of the Pakistan team which knocked out England during the 2014 Under-19 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.

He has been in decent form in the domestic T20 competition too, where he has picked up 6 wickets in 3 games for the Lahore Whites.

Mohammad Irfan, the left-arm fast bowler who was roped into the ODI squad after the injury to Mohammad Hafeez has been retained despite only being able to bowl 5 overs in the 4th One Day International.

Also players like Sami Aslam, Yasir Shah, Umar Gul, Hasan Ali and ODI captain Azhar Ali have left out from the T20 squad.

However, Sohail Tanvir, the left-arm seamer has earned a recall into the team. Tanvir who was a part of the Guyana Amazon Warriors in the recently concluded Caribbean Premier League where he took 20 wickets from 12 games at an impressive average of 14.85. Also, Shoaib Malik, Wahab Riaz and Khalid Latif have been retained in the squad. In what can be seen as a strange choice, the squad consists of as many as 4 spin-bowling all-rounders.

T20I Squad: Sarfraz Ahmed (capt), Khalid Latif, Sharjeel Khan, Shoaib Malik, Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam, Mohammad Nawaz, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan, Sohail Tanvir, Amad Butt