Pakistan’s premier fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi has been excluded from the upcoming three-match home T20I series against Sri Lanka. The decision aligns with the team management and selection committee’s strategy to preserve the 26-year-old pacer for the subsequent two-match home Test series against the same opposition. Despite his absence in the T20Is, Afridi—Pakistan’s all-time leading wicket-taker in the format with 136 dismissals—will return to captain the national side during a home tri-nation ODI tournament featuring England and Sri Lanka, scheduled across Rawalpindi and Lahore from October 18 to 31.
Similarly, veteran express pacer Haris Rauf remains out of the T20I picture. The 32-year-old, who boasts 133 wickets in 94 T20Is, has not featured for Pakistan in the shortest format since a clash against India in Dubai in September 2025. In a related development, reports indicate that Salman Ali Agha’s tenure as T20I captain has concluded, with the all-rounder also reportedly dropped from the squad entirely.
