Pakistan captain Shaheen Shah Afridi has confirmed that three debutants will be part of the starting XI in the opening one-day international (ODI) against Bangladesh.
The Green Shirts made some major changes to the squad following their disappointing T20 World Cup 2026 campaign.
Pakistan failed to go beyond the Super Eights in the tournament. Senior players Babar Azam and Shadab Khan were criticised for their performances and have been dropped for the series against Bangladesh.
Six uncapped players have been named – Sahibzada Farhan, Abdul Samad, Maaz Sadaqat, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori, Saad Masood and Shamyl Hussain.
Speaking in his pre-series press conference, Afridi confirmed Farhan and Sadaqat will open the innings while Hussain will bat at number three.
Farhan was the highest run-scorer at the T20 World Cup, recording 383 in six innings.
The 30-year-old hit two sensational centuries against Namibia and Sri Lanka, thus becoming the first-ever player in the history of the tournament to score two hundreds in the same edition.
Farhan will hope to continue his impressive form when he walks on to bat against Bangladesh in the opening ODI on Wednesday.
The right-hander has been consistently performing well in first-class cricket, scoring more than 4,500 runs at an average of around 45 since 2016.
He was overlooked for many years but has now placed himself firmly in international contention.
Stats from Espncricinfo.
