Pakistan Squad Announced For T20 World Cup 2026
Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board has named its 15-player squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026. Pakistan will compete in Group A and begin their campaign against the Netherlands on 7 February in Colombo.
The squad announcement was made at a media briefing on Sunday morning at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. The press conference was attended by PCB Director of High Performance and national selector Aqib Javed, T20I captain Salman Ali Agha, and white-ball head coach Michael James Hesson.
Several players have earned their first-ever World Cup selections, including captain Salman Ali Agha, Faheem Ashraf, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Sahibzada Farhan, and Usman Tariq.
At the same time, a number of experienced campaigners return to the global stage. Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, and Usman Khan have all featured in previous editions of the T20 World Cup since 2021.
The tournament will feature 20 teams, with each side playing four matches in the group stage before progressing to the Super Eight and knockout rounds. The competition will run from 7 February to 8 March.
As part of their build-up, Pakistan will host Australia for a three-match T20I series at Gaddafi Stadium on 29 and 31 January, and 1 February. The team’s preparation camp gets underway today.
Pakistan squad for the T20 World Cup:
Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Khawaja Mohammad Nafay (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wk), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan (wk), Usman Tariq
