Babar Azam made his ODI return as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced the squad for the upcoming home series against Australia. Big names Haris Rauf, Shadab Khan also returned, but the star wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan failed to find a place in Shaheen Afridi-led 16-member squad.

Rizwan scored 58 runs in three innings when during Pakistan's last ODI assignment against Bangladesh in March. He also struggled to impress in the Pakistan Super League 2026, scoring 204 runs in 10 innings at a strike rate of 116.57.

Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman were also left out due to injury concerns, but are expected to return to ODI setup before the World Cup 2027. In their absence, Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas and Rohail Nazir are included in ODI squad for the first time. Ghazi Ghori keeps his place in the squad after making his ODI debut against Bangladesh in March, and is expected to do the wicketkeeping gloves against Australia ahead of uncapped Nazir.

Babar Azam returns to ODIs

Babar Azam, the former World No. 1 batter in the ICC rankings, was left out of Pakistan's last ODIs against Bangladesh after his poor show in the T20 World Cup 2026. The 31-year-old took a break returned strong, topping the scoring charts in the PSL 2026 with 588 runs in just 11 innings at a strike rate of 45.90.

The former Pakistani skipper made a strong return to international cricket last week, scoring 68 and 47 in the second Test against Bangladesh. Babar Azam's return to ODI setup shows PCB's plan to build up their squad for the World Cup 2027 around the player.

Pakistan ODI squad for Australia series:

Shaheen Shah Afridi (c), Salman Ali Agha (vc), Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Maaz Sadaqat, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wk), Naseem Shah, Rohail Nazir (wk), Sahibzada Farhan, Shadab Khan, Shamyl Hussain and Sufyan Moqim

Australia tour of Pakistan 2026 schedule:

30 May – 1st ODI, Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi

2 June – 2nd ODI, Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

4 June – 3rd ODI, Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore

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