POBNEWS24,Dhaka, Nov 22, 2021 : Winning the first two matches has ensured victory in the T20 series. Pakistan will enter the third T20 in Mirpur today with the aim of whitewashing Bangladesh. However, before the match, the Pakistan team got a bad news. Babar Ajmara is not getting Shoaib Malik in this match.
Shoaib Malik is leaving the team today due to illness of his only child Izhan. He will leave for Dubai before the match. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed this in a statement.
Pakistan will also play a two-Test series against Bangladesh after the end of the T20 series today. Shoaib Malik is not in the team for that series. Shoaib is returning today, only the players in Pakistan’s T20 series squad will also travel to Pakistan via Dubai tomorrow evening after the series.
The Pakistan Test team will leave for Chittagong tomorrow afternoon for the first Test of the series. The first test will start from November 26. Then the second test will start from December 4 in Dhaka.
Earlier today, cricket fans may be worried about the reason why Shoaib Malik could not play in the third T20 in Mirpur. Shoaib Malik and his wife, Indian tennis star Sania Mirza, gave birth to their only child, Izhan, in 2016 after a nine-year marriage.
However, Shoaib Malik did not contribute much to Pakistan’s victory in the first two matches of the T20 series. The 39-year-old all-rounder did not bowl in the first match, nor did he score a run with the bat. Oddly run out 0 runs.
Shoaib Malik left the crease to play a shot, but the ball went to Bangladesh wicketkeeper Nurul Hasan as he was not batting. But Shoaib Malik delayed returning to the crease after batting, in which Nurul’s throw broke the stumps.
In the second T20, Shoaib did not have to bat, Pakistan won the match by 8 wickets. On that day, however, Shoaib gave 16 runs in 2 overs with the ball in hand, but did not get a wicket.
Besides Shoaib, the PCB has also given the latest information about the team’s bowling coach Vernon Philander. Philander will be with the Test team until December 1. The contract with him was only till the three T20s and the 1st Test of the series.
Pakistan Test team in Bangladesh tour
Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (co-captain), Abdullah Shafiq, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Bilal Asif, Fahim Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Nawaz, Nasim Shah, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Saud Shakil, Shahin Shah Afridi, Zahid Mahmood.
