Pakistan cricket team arrive in Dhaka for bilateral series

Australia caught the high-flying Pakistan off-guard in the second semifinal of the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup and qualified for the final for the second time in the history of the tournament. After the loss in the semifinal, the Pakistan cricket team left for Bangladesh to play a three-match T20I and a two-match Test series. An Emirates Airlines plane carrying them landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka at 8.10 am on Saturday. 

Skipper Babar Azam and veteran cricketer Shoaib Malik will join the team on 16 November after spending holidays.

The members of the Pakistan team headed straight to Hotel Sonargaon upon arrival in Dhaka. Since the beginning of Covid-19, it's the first time a team is not serving a mandatory quarantine. The members of the visiting team can even move freely if they are Covid-19 negative and jabbed twice.

All the players of Pakistan's World Cup squad barring Mohammad Hafeez feature in their squad for the T20I series against Bangladesh. Khushdil Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir who travelled with the team as reserve players in the World Cup have been called up. Iftikhar Ahmed, who missed out on a World Cup spot, has also earned a call-up.

The T20 series will begin on 19 November. The next two games will be held on 20 and 22 November. All the T20Is will be held at the Sher-E-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Mirpur. 

The first Test will start on 26 November in Chattogram. Then the teams will return to Mirpur to play the second Test starting on 4 December. 

Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Shoaib Malik, Usman Qadir.