Pakistan's newly-appointed captain Shaheen Afridi has hinted that the team management will experiment with various player combinations during the five-T20I series against New Zealand followed by other T20Is leading up to the T20 World Cup 2024 in the USA and West Indies.
Ahead of the series opener, there have been reports that Babar Azam may lose his opening spot to 21-year-old Saim Ayub despite forming a formidable partnership with Mohammad Rizwan. In the pre-match press conference in Auckland, Afridi did not give a clear answer but some changes may take place to give chances to youngsters.
“Some young players are making a comeback like Azam Khan, Aamer Jamal, and Sahibzada Farhan and there are some new players like Haseebullah and Abbas Afridi. We are hoping to give them a chance in these five T20Is and upcoming T20I matches ahead of World Cup,” Afridi told the reporters.
"Babar and Rizwan will always be the best opening pair for Pakistan. I think we have 17 matches before the World Cup, and we should try different combinations and try to figure out which player fits in which position and we will try to play them [in that position]. There might be some changes, or maybe not. But the effort will be to have the team combination ready before England tour. In the four T20s against England before T20 World Cup, we should know our best playing XI," the left-arm pacer added.
After Babar stepped down from the captaincy role across formats following exit from ODI World Cup 2023 in India, Afridi will make his T20I debut at Eden Park. He aims to adapt his aggressive style of bowling into his captaincy as well.
"It's very exciting challenge and proud moment for me to represent Pakistan. Not easy, first time captaincy, new challenge and in New Zealand. We have a very good track record against New Zealand but they are one of the best teams in the world so we'll try to do our best,” the 23-year-old said.
Considering the challenging dimensions of Eden Park, Afridi is aware of the unique challenge it poses and has plans to counter it as well.
"As fast bowler I think the straight boundary is very, very small. It's not easy. I'm always trying to bowl fuller but for me now I also think that is not easy. The square boundary is bigger. So hopefully as a bowling unit we can use that," he concluded.
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