KARACHI: Nihar Alam will lead a 16-member Pakistan which will compete in a disabled T20 cricket tri-series being hosted by England with Bangladesh as the third nation also participating in the event being staged in Worcester from July 8 to 13.

PDCA chief selector Iqbal Imam, while announcing the squad at a media briefing held on Thursday at the Hanif Mohammad Centre for Excellence in the vicinity of the National Stadium, said picking the team was extremely tough for his panel that also includes Sabih Azhar, Mohammad Javed and Javed Ashraf.

Iqbal further added that the best possible selections have been made given the importance of the forthcoming tour.

“I think it is balanced squad that we have picked. I can’t see any reason for Pakistan not coming home victorious given the talent we have at our disposal, Iqbal observed.

“We can win the tri- series because ours is a pretty strong side with a good mix of spinners and fast bowlers [in the squad]. And then we have a strong batting line-up that meets the requirements of T20 format.”

Former Pakistan Test captain Rashid Latif, who is the PDCA president, gave the formal approval on the selections made by the four-man panel.

The PDCA honorary secretary Amiruddin Ansari announced a two-day conditioning camp will commence at the PCB regional academy here from Saturday, while a training camp will be set up after Eidul Fitr.

The team leaves for England on July 5.

According to the schedule Bangladesh will take on England in the opening match on July 8 while Pakistan face Bangladesh on July 9 and England on July 10.

Squad: Nihar Alam (captain), Jahanzeb Tiwana (vice-captain) Hasnain Alam, Arif Richard, Saifullah (wicket-keeper), Mohammad Shahbaz, Wajid Alam, Majid Hussain, Rehan Ghani Mirza, Abdullah Ejaz, Waqaf Shah, Malik Kashif, Matloob Qureshi, Mohammad Haris, Sher Ali ,Farhan Saeed.

Officials: Amiruddin Ansari (team manager), Sabih Azhar (head coach), Iqbal Imam (batting coach), Mohammad Javed (bowling coach), Noman Palekar (team doctor), Rashid Qureshi (trainer), Ali Christian (analyst), Mohammad Nizam (media manager).

Reserves: Abdullah Khan, Adil Abbasi, Zubair Saleem, Rao Javed.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2018