Pakistan squad for ICC World Cup 2023 announced

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced on Friday the men's squad which will take part in this year's ICC World Cup. 

The squad will be led by prolific batter Babar Azam. 

In an expected change, Hasan Ali has replaced Naseem Shah in the 15-member World Cup squad. Naseen suffered a shoulder injury at the Asia Cup 2023 and is expected to stay on the sidelines for a long period of time.

Ali last played an ODI match for Pakistan in 2022 against West Indies in Multan. 

The squad was announced by chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. 

Pakistan squad for ICC World Cup 2023

Babar Azam (c), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, M Wasim Jnr, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha.

Travelling reserves: Mohammad Haris, Abrar Ahmed, Zaman Khan

Pakistan made two changes to the squad which played in the Asia Cup 2023 with all-rounder Faheem Ashraf excluded and wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Haris dropping down to reserves. 

The ICC World Cup 2023 will take place in India with 10 teams fighting for the elusive title across 10 venues from October 5 to November 19, with the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad hosting the tournament opener and the final.

The Cricket World Cup will be played in the round-robin format with all teams playing against each other for a total of 45 league matches.

The top four teams will qualify for the semifinals, which will be held in Mumbai on November 15 and in Kolkata on November 16. The semi-finals and the final will have reserve days.

Pakistan will play two warm-ups – against New Zealand on September 29 and Australia on October 3 – before their tournament opener against the Netherlands on October 6.

Babar Azam’s side enters the mega-event as the number one ranked side and enjoys the best win/loss ratio of 2.400 in this World Cup cycle for any side that has played the One-Day International format.

Pakistan missed out on a semi-final spot in the 2019 iteration of the event because of a lower net run-rate to New Zealand, who ended up as runners-up. 

The team’s best performance came in the 1992 edition when they lifted the trophy at the MCG after defeating England. Pakistan featured in the final of the 1999 edition and reached semi-finals in 1979, 1983, 1987, and 2011.

Here is Pakistan's schedule for the ICC World Cup 2023:

October 6 - vs Netherlands in Hyderabad

October 10 - vs Sri Lanka in Hyderabad

October 14 - vs India in Ahmedabad

October 20 - vs Australia in Bengaluru

October 23 - vs Afghanistan in Chennai

October 27 - vs South Africa in Chennai

October 31 - vs Bangladesh in Kolkata

November 4 - vs New Zealand Bengaluru (Day match)

November 11 - vs England in Kolkata

The day matches which will start at 10:00am Pakistan Standard Time (PST) while all other matches will be day-night fixtures starting at 01:30pm (PST).

If Pakistan qualify for the semi-finals, they will play in Kolkata.

If India qualify for the semi-finals, they will play in Mumbai unless playing against Pakistan, in which case they will play in Kolkata.