South African cricket star Hashim Amla says he is as excited about experiencing Pakistan's cricketing culture during the upcoming three-match World XI T20 series against Pakistan in Lahore next month.

Five players from South Africa, three from Australia, two from West Indies and one each from England, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Bangladesh are part of the international squad.

While talking to DawnNews about his hopes for the series on Saturday, Amla said: "We are happy to be helping in the revival of international cricket in Pakistan, some of us are very excited about performing in front of the Pakistani crowd."

"Pakistan is certainly one of the best T20 teams in the world. They just won the Champions Trophy, so they are certainly very competent," Amla said while talking about the opponent the all-star team faces.

Talking about the advantage that Pakistan has of performing in front of their home crowd, that too after a long gap, Amla did not seem phased and said, "We are excited about enjoying the cricketing culture of Pakistan,"

However, he did add that their schedule would be quite tough, with three matches "being held over a span of three or for days."

"[But] we are excited that the World XI league is taking off and I think once we get started everyone will be very impressed," Amla said.

Apart from Amla, players visiting Pakistan for the World XI league include South African Test captain Faf du Plessis — who will lead the squad — along with fellow countrymen Imran Tahir, David Miller and Morne Morkel; former West Indies captain and T20 specialist Darren Sammy, who also led Peshawar Zalmi to victory in this year’s Pakistan Super League final; Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal; former England captain Paul Collingwood; and Sri Lankan all-rounder Thisara Perera.

Other players are Samuel Badree (West Indies), George Bailey, Ben Cutting, Tim Paine (all Australia) and Grant Elliott (New Zealand).

PCB announced the the Pakistan squad for the series on Friday. Sarfraz Ahmad will lead the team, while other names in the squad include:

Fakhar Zaman, Ahmed Shehzad, Baber Azam, Shoaib Malik, Umer Amin, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Muhammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Hassan Ali, Amir Yamin, Muhammad Amir, Ruman Raees, Usman Shinwari and Sohail Khan.