PM Imran gives nod for England tour

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The Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan, according to a local news channel, has granted the national men’s team of Pakistan permission to travel to England for their upcoming series.

The source in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has confirmed that Chairman Ehsan Mani met the Prime Minister. The head of the PCB wanted to discuss matters related to international and domestic cricket with the Chief Patron of the board. The request for the meeting had been forwarded three weeks ago while the meeting was finally confirmed for Monday.

Pakistan is scheduled to take on England in three Tests and three Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), with the matches likely to take place between August 5 and September 1 in Manchester and Southampton.

The PCB and England and Wales Cricket Board (PCB)’s top officials have already discussed the logistical plans for the tour and the schedule will be officially announced next week.  

An extended squad, 29-member, including white-ball specialists, is being sent to England as the players, in accordance with series SOPs in the wake of Covid-19, will remain in England from start to finish.

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In addition, Bilal Asif, Imran Butt, Musa Khan and Mohammad Nawaz will be available as cover in case any of the players fail pre-tour Covid-19 testing, which will be carried out on June 20 and 25.

The breakdown of the 29-player squad is:

Openers (4)

Abid Ali (Sindh, Lahore Qalandars), Fakhar Zaman (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Lahore Qalandars), Imam-ul-Haq (Balochistan, Peshawar Zalmi) and Shan Masood (Southern Punjab, Multan Sultans)

Middle-order batsmen (9)

Azhar Ali (captain) (Central Punjab), Babar Azam (Test vice-captain and T20I captain) (Central Punjab, Karachi Kings), Asad Shafiq (Sindh, Multan Sultans), Fawad Alam (Sindh), Haider Ali (Northern, Peshawar Zalmi), Iftikhar Ahmad (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Karachi Kings), Khushdil Shah (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Multan Sultans), Mohammad Hafeez (Southern Punjab, Lahore Qalandars), and Shoaib Malik (Southern Punjab, Peshawar Zalmi)

Wicketkeepers (2)

Mohammad Rizwan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Karachi Kings) and Sarfaraz Ahmed (Sindh, Quetta Gladiators)

Fast-bowlers (10)

Faheem Ashraf (Central Punjab, Islamabad United), Haris Rauf (Northern, Lahore Qalandars), Imran Khan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Mohammad Abbas (Southern Punjab), Mohammad Hasnain (Sindh, Quetta Gladiators), Naseem Shah (Central Punjab, Quetta Gladiators), Shaheen Shah Afridi (Northern, Lahore Qalandars), Sohail Khan (Sindh, Quetta Gladiators), Usman Shinwari (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Lahore Qalandars) and Wahab Riaz (Southern Punjab, Peshawar Zalmi)

Spinners (4)

Imad Wasim (Northern, Karachi Kings), Kashif Bhatti (Sindh), Shadab Khan (Northern, Islamabad United) and Yasir Shah (Balochistan, Peshawar Zalmi)