Shadab has regained his fitness, and Shafique and Nawaz have been selected for Pakistan’s ODI series against the West Indies.

After recuperating from injury, Shadab Khan has returned to the Pakistan ODI team and reclaimed the vice-captaincy, while top-order batsman Abdullah Shafique and left-arm spinner Mohammad Nawaz have been called up for the three-match series against the West Indies at home in June.

Asif Afridi, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Saud Shakeel, and Usman Qadir, who were all part of Pakistan’s previous 21-man squad for their home match against Australia in March-April this year, have been left out of the 16-man team.

Most members of the squad and coaching staff will assemble in Rawalpindi on June 1 for a training camp, with Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Rizwan and Shadab, who are presently playing in England, joining them sometime in the first week of June.

The games are slotted for Rawalpindi, but the PCB has kept Multan as a back-up as Islamabad – the country’s capital, adjacent to Rawalpindi – is likely to be the Centre for deposed prime minister Imran Khan’s political rally starting May 25. The series is set to start on June 8, and features three ODIs, which are part of the World Cup Super League.

“We have decided to give our side the best chance to collect maximum points and strengthen our chances of progressing directly to the pinnacle 50-over tournament because the ODIs against the West Indies are part of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 qualification,” chief selector Mohammad Wasim said in a statement. “We’ve kept the same core of players [from the Australia series] to help them establish themselves in the format. I’m hoping this group can maintain their form from the Australia series.” Before losing the one-off T20I, Pakistan won the three-ODI series 2-1.

The West Indies series will be played without a bio-secure bubble in place, so the PCB has done away with the policy of naming an extended squad. Though there was no bubble in place for the Australia series either, several injury concerns in the squad had forced Pakistan to carry 21 players.

“Taking into consideration that there will be no Managed Event Environment and the players can be called at a short notice, we have reduced the squad size to 16 players,” Wasim said. “For the Australia ODIs, we had also announced backup players as cover to those players who were carrying injuries.

“We were able to leave out Asif Afridi and Usman Qadir because players like Mohammad Nawaz and Shadab Khan are now totally healthy. Usman, as well as Asif Ali and Haider Ali, remain in our plans for the shortest format, as we have a number of T20Is scheduled this year, including the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022.”

Fakhar, Imam, and Babar will lead the top order, while Shaheen Shah Afridi, Rauf, and Hasan will lead the bowling attack, with Wasim Jr and Dahani supporting them. Shadab and Nawaz, who were originally in the team for the Australia series but had to withdraw due to injury, will join them.

Squad: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Wasim Jr, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shah