Farhan replaces Agha as Pakistan T20 captain for home series against Sri Lanka

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan axed Salman Ali Agha as the Twenty20 cricket captain and replaced him with Sahibzada Farhan for the three-match home series against Sri Lanka this week.

Farhan led Pakistan to the silver medal at the Asian Games, losing to India in the final on Sunday.

Batter Hasan Nawaz and fast bowler Naseem Shah were recalled to the T20 squad.

Nawaz had been out of favor since November but in the Asian Games final he hit 96 and was out off the final ball as Pakistan lost by 19 runs.

Shah last played T20s at the T20 World Cup in February. He was also added to the one-day international squad for the following tri-series with Sri Lanka and England.

Rising star Razaullah was rewarded for his performance in his test debut against England last month in Birmingham and was included in the T20 and ODI squads. He’s yet to make his white ball debut.

Fast bowler Shaheen Afridi was retained as ODI captain of a team including Agha and Babar Azam.

But the selectors ignored Mohammad Rizwan because the wicketkeeper was under investigation at the National Cyber Crime Investigation Authority. Rizwan was one of the seven players who were summoned home after Pakistan lost the second test to England at Lord’s in August.

Khawaja Nafay was the specialist wicketkeeper for the T20s while Ghazi Ghori, who made his test debut in England, was the first-choice gloveman for the ODIs.

Rawalpindi will host the three Sri Lanka T20s from Oct. 9-13. The tri-series begins on Oct. 18.

Tait back as bowling coach

Former Australian fast bowler Shaun Tait was named as Pakistan’s bowling coach after working with the Bangladesh team. Under Tait, Bangladesh beat Pakistan 2-0 in the test series this year.

Tait replaced Ashley Noffke, who has been contracted by the Netherlands.

Pakistan T20 squad: Sahibzada Farhan (captain), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Arafat Minhas, Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Nawaz, Muhammad Imran Randhawa, Khawaja Nafay, Maaz Sadaqat, Naseem Shah, Razaullah, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Shadab Khan, Sufiyan Moqim.

Pakistan ODI squad: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Ghazi Ghori, Haris Rauf, Hasan Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Razaullah, Saad Baig, Saim Ayub, Shadab Khan, Sufiyan Moqim.

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