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Babar Azam To Drop Shadab Khan, Abrar In? Pakistan's Probable XI For 2nd T20I vs IRE

Debashis Sarangi

Shadab had a poor outing in 1st T20I [AP]Shadab had a poor outing in 1st T20I [AP]

On Friday, Pakistan had a forgettable day in the office as they incurred an embarrassing five-wicket defeat in the first T20I against Ireland. 

Batting first, Pakistan posted a challenging 182-run total, thanks to useful contributions from Babar Azam, Saim Ayub and Iftikhar Ahmed. 

In response, the Irish hunted down the target, with Andrew Balbirnie, Harry Tector and George Dockrell playing game-changing knocks. 

Besides the middle order batters' failure, Shadab Khan's abysmal performance with bat and ball let Pakistan down in the match. Shadab, who got our before opening his account, couldn't pick a single wicket, conceding 54 runs off his four-over spell. 

So, considering it's a do-or-die game for Pakistan, they might consider replacing Shadab with Abrar Ahmed, who is a genuine wicket-taker. 

In the recently held PSL 2024, Abrar was the third highest wicket-taker, scalping 16 wickets at an impressive strike rate of 15. 

So, Pakistan can certainly make their spin bowling potent by bringing Abrar into the playing XI. Having said that, don't be surprised if Shadab gets another opportunity owing to his stature and all-round impact. 

Pakistan's probable playing XI for 2nd T20I vs IRE

Saim Ayub, Babar Azam (C), Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Iftikhar Ahmed, Azam Khan (WK), Imad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmed, Abbas Afridi