The 30-year-old fast bowler made an encouraging return to competitive cricket.

The 2009 T20 World Cup champions have included five quality fast bowlers in their 15-player squad for the ninth edition of the tournament, with left-armer Shaheen Afridi to spearhead a pace attack alongside Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abbas Afridi and Mohammad Amir.

Pakistan on Friday became the 20th and the last team to announce a 15-man squad for the Twenty20 World Cup to be held in the United States and the West Indies next month.

Speaking to the PCB Podcast, the left-arm speedster opined that Pakistan were close to success after recent near misses in the 2021 and 2022 edition.

Babar Azam-led Pakistan will play four-match series against defending champions England from May 22-30. The series will be an important one for Pakistan and England ahead of the T20 World Cup in the US and West Indies.

Babar and Rizwan's 139-run stand proved decisive.

The two teams are currently battling it out in a three-match T20I series in Ireland in preparation for next month's ICC Men's T20 World Cup and Cricket Ireland’s Chair Brian MacNeice held discussions with PCB Chair Mohsin Naqvi in relation to their tour of Pakistan in 2025.

It took Babar past Uganda's Brian Masaba for the most wins by male T20I captains and in front of former skippers in the ilk of England's Eoin Morgan, India's MS Dhoni and Australia's Aaron Finch.

Wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan, Azam Khan and Muhammad Irfan Khan, who all suffered injuries last month against New Zealand, were also included in an 18-man squad.

Gary Kirsten, the head coach of the Indian team that won the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2011, will assume the role of white-ball head coach of Pakistan heading into the upcoming T20 World Cup, the PCB announced in their press conference on Sunday.

Having made her international debut in 2006, Maroof represented Pakistan in  276 international matches, aggregating 6,262 international runs, including 33 half-centuries to go with 80 wickets.

With wicketkeeper-batter Azam Khan ruled out on the eve of the series with a muscle tear, Haseebullah Khan, who was called up as replacement, is likely to keep wickets in the last two matches in Lahore later on Thursday and on Saturday.

This was Rizwan's 79th Twenty20 innings, beating his skipper Babar Azam and Indian great Virat Kohli who both completed 3,000 runs in 81 T20I innings.

Azam regained the captaincy last month in a shock U-turn that ended the short-lived reign of Shaheen Shah Afridi, raising fears of a rift between the players.

Amir had retired from international cricket in 2020 at the age of 28 while Imad had announced his retirement in November last year.

Usman was a part of the recently concluded 29-player fitness camp, which was conducted by trainers from the Pakistan Army. Last week, he was banned for five years by the Emirates Cricket Board [ECB]. The 28-year-old was "found to have breached his obligations to the Emirates Cricket Board."

UAE-based batsman Usman Khan was banned from Emirati cricket for five years on Friday after he joined a Pakistan training camp in an apparent bid to play for the country of his birth.

"Our joint aim is to make this team the best in the world," said Azam

“I still dream to play for Pakistan!” Amir posted on X, formerly known as Twitter today.

Former captain Mohammad Yousuf, Wahab Riaz, Abdul Razzaq and Asad Shafiq -- who all played for Pakistan -- will be joined on the committee by the current captain, the head coach and a data analyst.