File photo of Shoaib Malik
Veteran Pakistan batsmen Muhammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik will skip next month’s T20 home series against the West Indies, a Cricket Board (PCB) source said.
Hafeez and Malik have both informed the Pakistan team captain Babar Azam and head coach Saqlain Mushtaq that they will not be available for the series due to personal commitments.
Both the players also skipped the recent T20 series in Bangladesh after the World Cup, which Pakistan won comfortably by a 3-0 margin.
“Malik has said that he wants to focus on playing in T20 leagues and the Pakistani selectors should only consider him for selection for select and important series,” a reliable PCB source said.
He said Hafeez, on the other hand, has said he is skipping the West Indies series as he is busy with the Lankan Premier League and the selectors should give a chance to some young players.
Hafeez also skipped the series in Bangladesh.
“Basically it has been decided to now start giving more exposure to players like Haider Ali, Sohaib Maqsood, Khushdil Shah, Iftikhar Ahmed, Danish Aziz, Azam khan to prepare them for the future instead of waiting around for Hafeez and Malik,” the source added.
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