Pakistan cricket team reached Christchurch, 5 T20 match series will be played from this day

The Pakistan team landed in Christchurch yesterday in preparation for the first match in the T20 series against New Zealand on March 16. Pakistan has a tour that consists of playing five T20s and three ODIs in three weeks' time. This is Pakistan's first white-ball tour since their lackluster performance in the home ICC Champions Trophy, in which they were unable to win a single game and were knocked out of the tournament early. They were defeated by New Zealand and arch-rival India before their match against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi was abandoned owing to rain.

Salman Agha will lead Pakistan in the T20 series, with vice-captaincy held by Shadab Khan, and three uncapped players, Abdul Samad, Hasan Nawaz, and Mohammad Ali, being named in the team in place of senior players like Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. Rizwan would be the ODI skipper, but Salman would be his vice-captain in the three 50-over matches that would be played towards the conclusion of the tour from March 29 through April 5.

The decision to appoint Salman and Shadab as T20 captain and vice-captain respectively has been taken keeping in mind two major upcoming tournaments – the ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025 (September 2025) and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 (February/March 2026). Salman led Pakistan in the T20 series against Zimbabwe last year, which they won 2-1,” the Pakistan Cricket Board said.