Pakistan's probable XI versus West Indies in the first T20

#2 Middle Order

Babar Azam

Babar Azam

The Lahore wonderkid hasn't looked back ever since he burst onto the scene with Pakistan, and continues to keep the fans and critiques alike, drooling over his prodigious talent.

Babar Azam finished as the best Pakistani batsman in the Super League behind only his cousin Kamran Akmal with 402 runs and enjoyed a particularly fine outing against West Indies last year in the limited overs format, including the incredible knock of 125 not-out in the second ODI.

Asif Ali

Having waited in the wings for several years, Asif Ali's time may have come to finally flex his international muscle and what better way to do it than in T20, the one format he's pre-dominantly thrived in. The Islamabad United ace carved a niche in the domestic circuit with a string of promising knocks and played an influential role in helping his side clinch the 2018 edition of PSL.

Shoaib Malik

The Multan Sultan skipper recently announced his retirement from Test cricket but remains evergreen in the limited overs format. His exploits in the PSL would serve to add more substance to the claim.

The 36-year old all-rounder has proved to be of immense importance down the middle order for Pakistan, and one would have to cast their minds back as recently as October of last year to recall his talesmanship in his side's 3-0 whitewash of Sri Lanka. Malik would be looking to pull up more trees in his return to the T20 squad for the first time since the events.

Sarfraz Ahmed

Pakistan's batting trump card, Sarfraz Ahmed would be charged up after being announced the captain of the Test cricket side recently, thereby completing his anointment as the leader on all three formats. The 30-year old remains one of the best in the business behind the wickets and even though he's flattered to deceive with some of his underwhelming knocks in the recent games, his half-century against New Zeland served a timely reminder of his explosiveness with the bat.

Faheem Ashraf

The 24-year old only debuted last year and following a brief stint against the World XI where he played only one game and bowled one fruitless over, Ashraf gave a glimpse of his potential in the T20 series against Sri Lanka where he picked up 6 scalps in 9 overs at a frugal economy of only 4.5, before finishing as the most prolific bowler in the PSL 2018 with a mammoth 18 wickets from 12 innings.

While not so good with the bat - his last five scores in T20 read 8, 13, 7, 0 and 8 - he's one of the best quicks in the squad with the ability to trouble batsmen with his skiddy pace. That could be a big problem for the Windies at a National Stadium which favours the same.