Pakistan close to finalising T20 World Squad, Australia series schedule

Pakistan are in the decisive stage of their ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 preparations, with the final squad expected to be announced this week. 

Not many changes expected

Pakistan’s white-ball coach, Mike Hesson and T20I captain, Salman Ali Agha, are understood to be returning to Lahore from Sri Lanka to finalise the squad discussions with selectors. Following these detailed discussions, which will also take into account insights from the recent Sri Lanka tour, and PCB chair Mohsin Naqvi’s approval, Pakistan will make the squad public.

The PCB earlier submitted a preliminary squad to the International Cricket Council (ICC), and the final squad is expected not be vastly different from that. 

According to the reports, a core group of players is currently in contention, including Salman Ali Agha, Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Sahibzada Farhan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Usman Khan and Abrar Ahmed.

It is understood that fast bowlers, including Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, and Salman Mirza, as well as emerging names like Khawaja Nafay and Usman Tariq, are in the plans for the tournament. 

Australia T20I series schedule

In addition to finalising the World Cup squad, the PCB is also working to get the Australia T20I series schedule confirmed with Cricket Australia (CA). The tentative plan includes Australia’s arrival in late January, with matches expected around January 29, January 31 and February 1.

Pakistan will begin their T20 World Cup campaign against the Netherlands on February 7 in Colombo, where all of their group stage matches are scheduled to be played.

ALSO READ: Sameer Minhas wants to ‘win it for Pakistan’ as the U19 World Cup inches closer- IPL