T20 World Cup 2021: Salman Butt picks Pakistan's 15-man squad for the tournament

Pakistan is set to announce their 15-man squad on September 6 (Monday) for the upcoming T20 World Cup to be played in the UAE and Oman from October 17. According to the rules of ICC, changes could be made to the squad until October 10 but the boards are expected to name the 15 much before. Ahead of the squad announcement, Salman Butt has given his opinion on which 15 players could be picked in the team.

He had no doubt in going for Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan at the top of the order as the duo has done well opening the innings for the country. Butt also felt that the likes of Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan are the certainties in the squad of the Men in Green. The next player in his team was Khushdil Shah who has fared decently so far after being impressive in the PSL.

There were reports of skipper Babar Azam wanting the experience of veteran Shoaib Malik in the T20 squad. While speaking on his Youtube channel, Salman Butt reckoned that if those reports are true then Malik will definitely make it to the line-up. He felt that it will be a toss up between Malik and Iftikhar Ahmed.

Salman Butt drops Fakhar Zaman and Sharjeel Khan from his squad

Interestingly, with Babar and Rizwan set to open, Salman Butt has not included Fakhar Zaman and Sharjeel Khan. According to him the latter duo, if not opening, shouldn’t bat in the middle-order as they are the specialists at the top. Instead, the former Pakistan skipper went with the in-form Shan Masood as the back-up opener in the squad. The left-hander did well in the PSL played and was also consistent in the KPL.

Apart from Shadab, Usman Qadir is the other leg-spinner in his squad and the all-rounder Imad Wasim also walked into the team. Salman Butt also went ahead with Wahab Riaz ahead of Haris Rauf given the former’s experience and the pace he offers. To wind up his squad, Butt reckoned Sohaib Maqsood, the powerful hitter, will be preferred ahead of Asif Ali thanks to his good hitting in the PSL’s UAE leg.

Here’s Salman Butt’s Pakistan T20 World Cup Squad: Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam, Mohammad Hafeez, Iftikhar Ahmed/Shoaib Malik, Khushdil Shah, Hasan Ali, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Qadir, Faheem Ashraf, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Hasnain, Wahab Riaz, Shan Masood, Sohaib Maqsood.