There comes a big update right from the house of PCB! The board has announced the Pakistan Squad for Asian Games 2023 to be played between September 28 and October 7 in Hangzhou, China. The tournament will be played in T20 format with Biggies of World Cricket participating in it. With the senior team being busy with World Cup preparations, Pakistan has named a second-string squad for the marquee event.
The squad that will travel to Pakistan will feature Asif Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Shahnawaz Dahani, and Usman Qadir. The announced squad is more of fresh places with the Captain Akram & Vice-Captain haven’t played International Cricket. The squad comprises several new faces as eight out of 15 have played International Cricket.
The second-string squad has much of their playing time with Shaheens with whom eight players of the announced squad toured Zimbabwe for two four-day fixtures & six 50-over games before winning the ACC Emerging Asia Cup in Sri Lanka last month. They further ended as runners-up in the T20 tournament in Darwin. Pakistan will now enter the tournament at the quarter-final stage which means their first fixture will take place in early October with the final to be played on October 7.
Pakistan will feature in the Asian Games for the Second Time
Cricket has been played at the Asian Games two times before at the Guangzhou 2010 and Incheon 2014. Bangladesh won the first edition of the Asian Games with Sri Lanka ending as runners-up. On the other hand, Afghanistan ended as the runner-up both times. Pakistan didn’t participate in the 2014 edition & was the one who ended their maiden season of Asian Games 2010 with a bronze medal.
This will be Pakistan’s second stint in the marquee event. They will try their best to step ahead & win the Gold medal this time. Notably, Pakistan will also field a women’s team which will be led by Nida Dar. The Asian Games Women’s Editions will be played before the Men’s Tournament.
Pakistan Squad for the Asian Games:
Qasim Akram (capt), Omair Bin Yousuf, Aamir Jamal, Arafat Minhas, Arshad Iqbal, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Khushdil Shah, Mirza Tahir Baig, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Akhlaq (wk), Rohail Nazir (wk), Shahnawaz Dahani, Sufiyan Muqeem, Usman Qadir
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