Injuries restricted Naseem to just three matches in PSL 2026. A back injury in the early days of the tournament ruled him out for the most part, and he limped off the field after a dive on his return. Like Naseem, the upcoming ODIs against Australia also mark Daniyal’s return from an injury. His participation in this year’s PSL was cut short to four matches after he pulled his hamstring.
Pakistan last played an ODI series in March, when they toured Bangladesh. During that series, they handed debuts to six players across the three matches which they largely used to test their pool of ODI players, but ended up losing 2-1.
From the squad that toured Bangladesh, Faisal Akram, Faheem Ashraf, Hussain Talat, Mohammad Wasim Jnr and Saad Masood, who had made his debut have also been left out from the side to play Australia.
Meanwhile, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, and Usman Khan were unavailable for selection. While Ayub and Fakhar are injured, Usman is ill, the PCB said in a media release. The three were not part of the Bangladesh series either.
In Ayub and Fakhar’s absence, Pakistan persisted with Sahibzada Farhan, Maaz Sadaqat and Shamyl Hussain as the top-order batters, with all three of them having made their debuts against Bangladesh.
Pakistan squad for ODIs vs Australia
Shaheen Shah Afridi (capt), Salman Ali Agha (vice-capt), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Maaz Sadaqat, Ghazi Ghori (wk), Naseem Shah, Rohail Nazir (wk), Sahibzada Farhan, Shadab Khan, Shamyl Hussain, Sufyan Moqim
