Pakistan call up Saud Shakeel in place of Tayyab Tahir for Asia Cup

Pakistan's team for the 2023 Asia Cup now includes Saud Shakeel. Tayyab Tahir was supposed to be on the 17-person team, but he didn't make the cut. Instead, he will be part of the travelling backups.

Shakeel has only played in five ODIs so far, but he has done well in his first few Tests. In seven Tests, he has scored six fifties and two hundreds, including 208* against Sri Lanka in Galle, which won the game after the home spinners took out Pakistan's top order. He has scored 2489 runs in List A games, averaging 44.44 runs per game.

Shakeel played in the last ODI against Afghanistan. He got 9 runs out of 6 balls before being run out. On Sunday, he will go to Multan with the rest of the team.

The players who are going to the Asia Cup and played against Afghanistan in Sri Lanka will be in Multan on Sunday. A PCB press release said that Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, and Naseem Shah will go to Lahore on Sunday and join the team on Monday evening.

In the first game of the Asia Cup, Pakistan will play Nepal on August 30 in Multan.

Pakistan Asia Cup squad: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saud Shakeel, Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim. Travelling reserve: Tayyab Tahir