Pakistan announced their playing XI for the third and final T20I of the series against Australia hours before the coin toss on November 18. After losing the series, captain Mohammad Rizwan has been rested. In his absence, Agha Salman has been named the captain of the T20I side for the last game of the tour at Bellerive Oval, Hobart. Salman will be Pakistan's 12th captain in the T20I format.
Along with Rizwan, Naseem Shah has been rested for the third T20I as well. Rawalpindi-born fast-bowling all-rounder Jahandad Khan has been handed his debut cap. He has 18 wickets from 19 T20s and scores runs at a strike rate of 187.80.
Rizwan was lacklustre in the first T20I. In the seven overs per side game, he departed for a duck. In the second T20I, he played a slow knock of 16 in the run chase. Naseem bagged a wicket in the first T20I and remained wicketless in the second. Known for his exploits down the order, he bagged two ducks from as many games.
Pakistan Playing XI for third T20I:Â
Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Haseebullah Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Agha Salman (c), Irfan Khan, Abbas Afridi, Shaheen Afridi, Jahandad Khan, Haris Rauf, Sufyan Moqim
Head-to-head in Australia
Pakistan are yet to win a T20I on Australian soil. Out of six T20Is, they have lost five whereas one ended in no result.
Babar's chance to script history
Meanwhile, Babar Azam is chasing two major feats in the third T20I. The opener needs 38 more runs to surpass India's former T20I player and become second-highest run-scorer. Babar has 4,151 runs from 125 T20Is at an average of 40.30 including three centuries and 36 half-centuries. India's T20 World Cup 2024-winning skipper Rohit Sharma is on top with 4,231 runs followed by Kohli (4,188 runs).
Also, Babar needs 55 more runs to become second Pakistan batter to score 11,000 T20 runs (including T20Is, domestic T20s and franchise T20s). Malik is second on the list after West Indies' Chris Gayle with 13,360 runs.
