Pakistan finally drops Babar Azam’s teammate, announces XI for 3rd SA T20I

On Saturday, December 14, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced the Pakistan National Cricket Team playing XI for the third and final T20I against the South African National Cricket Team just hours before the match.

The Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg will host the final dead rubber T20I between Pakistan National Cricket Team and South Africa National Cricket Team.

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Pakistan announce Playing XI for 3rd T20I

The PCB selection committee has taken a major decision and dropped the 29-year-old batsman Usman Khan from the playing eleven. Usman has not been able to replicate his PSL heroics at the international level and has failed miserably despite getting constant opportunities.

In the first two T20I matches against the Proteas, he looked poor and registered scores of 9 and 3. In total, he has played 18 T20I matches and scored 232 runs at an average of 15.46 and a percentage of times of 122.75, with only half a share. century

Usman Khan has been replaced by white-ball vice-captain Salman Agha in the playing eleven of the third match. Notably, Agha, despite being the vice-captain, was dropped from the team after Zimbabwe series as he struggled a lot.

Talking about the rest of the playing eleven, the new pairing of Mohammad Rizwan and Saim Ayub will continue to open for the winger and Babar Azam will bat at the No. 3 spot.

Middle-order responsibility will fall on Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir and all-rounder Irfan Khan. Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf and Abbas Afridi will form the rhythm trio, with Open Ahmed as a single spinner and Jahandad Khan has retained his place in the side.

This selection of the playing eleven for the third T20I means that Omair Bin Yousuf and Mohammad Hasnain will not get a chance to play for Pakistan in the series.

Pakistan Playing XI for 3rd T20I:

Pakistan (Playing

Pakistan playing XI for third T20I. Salman Ali Agha replaces Usman. pic.twitter.corm/dgJSlNXAJE

— Faizan Lakhani (@faizanlakhani) december 14, 2024

Pakistan lost the T20I series against South Africa

The Men In Green have already lost the three-match series against the Proteas after their poor performance in the first two matches. They lost the first game by 11 runs and the second game by 7 wickets.

Speaking after the series defeat, skipper Mohammad Rizwan said that they will give their best effort in the last T20I as they love cricket.

“(to Reeza) He played really well. Saim Ayub was outstanding, after 10 overs, we lost our way, the middle order is learning, we have an inexperienced side, we were looking at 220+ but 4. Overs played very well,” he said.

“(to Irfan) He’s one of the guys we’re looking at as a power batsman and we hope he continues to do that. We’ve got another game and we still love cricket and we’re looking forward to playing tomorrow,” he stated.