Babar XI to lead Pak against Ban in first T20 today

Babar XI to lead Pakistan for the first time at home when they take on Bangladesh in the first T20I.

The match will be played at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on January 24, 2020.

The match will begin at 2:00 PM Pakistan standard time.

The three-match T20I series would entirely played in Lahore over the next few days.

If Babar XI  lose just one of the three matches scheduled they will slide to second behind England or India in the rankings after holding the top spot since January 2018.

After a lot of talks, the Bangladesh Cricket Board finally agreed on the tour.

There are two Tests and one ODI which will be played in the next few months.

Following an attack in 2009 by militants on a convoy ferrying the Sri Lanka team to a fixture in Lahore, Pakistan became a wilderness for the national side who had to play its home fixtures in the Middle East.

That ended in December when Sri Lanka returned to give Pakistan their first home series in a decade.

The first priority for skipper Babar Azam is to stay top of the world in the shortest international version of the game.

“The focus is to continue the number one ranking,” said Babar on Thursday.

“We can hang on to that only if we win all three matches, so its a do-or-die situation and we have planned for that,” he told a press conference.

Shaheen Shah Afridi brought back into the side while Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Amir have been dropped from the Pakistan T20 squad.

Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez brought back in the side as well.

Haris Rauf and Ahsan Ali in line for their international debut.