The Pakistan T20I squad, captained by Agha Salman, landed in New Zealand on Thursday, prior to the five-match series against the Bracewell-captained Blackcaps, starting from March 16.

The Pakistan squad landed in Christchurch on Thursday, prior to the first match of the T20I series against New Zealand on March 16. Pakistan will play five T20Is and three ODIs during its three-week tour.

The squad will take the day off today and have their inaugural training session tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. local time.

Salman Agha will captain Pakistan in the T20Is, with Shadab Khan as the vice-captain. Three uncapped playersAbdul Samad, Hasan Nawaz, and Mohammad Ali—have been placed in the team, as veterans like Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are not part of the team.

"The appointment of Salman and Shadab as T20I captain and vice-captain, respectively, was made with an eye to two big events in the near future - the ACC Men's T20 Asia Cup 2025 (September 2025) and the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 (February/March 2026). Salman had captained Pakistan in a series against Zimbabwe last year which Pakistan won 2-1," the Pakistan Cricket Board stated in a release.

As part of preparation for the 2026 ICC Men's T20 World Cup, Pakistan will host at least five T20Is during the 2025 ACC Asia Cup and three T20Is against each other for Bangladesh (home, May), West Indies (away, July), Afghanistan (home, August), Ireland (home, September), South Africa (home, September/October), Sri Lanka (home, November), and Australia (home, January 2026).

Rizwan will keep captaining the ODI team as Pakistan builds towards the 2027 ICC Men's 50-Over Cricket World Cup in Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe in October/November 2027.

Pakistan T20I Squad for New Zealand Tour:   Salman Ali Agha (c), Shadab Khan (vc), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Hasan Nawaz, Jahandad Khan, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Haris, Irfan Khan Niazi, Omair Bin Yousuf, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Usman Khan.