There will be competition with Pakistan zimbabwe In the first match of the T20I tri-series. This article provides details about the Pakistan vs Zimbabwe playing 11 for the first match of the series.
Pakistan Playing XI vs Zimbabwe- Pakistan T20I Tri Series 2025, Match 1:
Openers: Fakhar Zaman, Saim Ayub
Pakistan will look to continue their winning streak in the current domestic season by winning series against South Africa and Sri Lanka respectively in the white-ball format of the game.
For that to happen, the Green team will be eyeing a winning start to the tri-series involving Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka when they make full use of the home conditions when they take on Zimbabwe in the opening match.
One of the major concerns that the Salman Ali Aga-led team will have to address is the batting of various players, especially the opening batsmen.
Fakhar Zaman, who was not a part of the team’s last T20 match against South Africa, is back in the team for this special series and in all likelihood, he will open the innings.
The Pakistani management will have to decide who will open the batting with Fakhar between Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan.
Having said that, there could be a scenario where both of them play because of the skills they provide apart from their batting.
While Saim Ayub has developed himself into a proper all-rounder, Sahibzada Farhan can do the wicketkeeping. In such a situation, Saim can start the innings with Sahibzada in the middle order.
Middle-order batsmen and all-rounders: Babar Azam, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper), Salman Ali Aga (captain), Usman Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf.
As far as Pakistan’s middle-order is concerned, it looks quite settled with former captain Babar Azam playing a match-winning innings while batting at number three in the series decider against South Africa.
After Babar, there will be current T20 captain Salman Ali Aga, who is coming into the series against Sri Lanka on the back of a century and would like to take full advantage of his good form.
The pair will be assisted by another wicketkeeper batsman Usman Khan and some all-rounders like Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Nawaz.
The presence of Faheem and Ashraf moves the batting up to number eight, giving the top five batsmen license to play freely, with ODI captain Shaheen Afridi, who is also capable of hitting the boundary, coming in to bat at number nine.
Bowlers: Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Usman Tariq
The former T20 World Cup winners will rely on their bowlers to perform well, given the fact that the conditions are expected not to be conducive for bowling, especially for the spinners, with dew playing a major role.
The bowling combination may include a few all-rounders and three specialist fast bowlers.
The fast bowling department will be handled by Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Faheem Ashraf, while the spin bowling arsenal will include Mohammad Nawaz and Usman Tariq, assisted by Salman Ali Aga and Saim Ayub.