Pakistan chooses to bat against Zimbabwe in T20I series opener with refreshed lineup

Pakistan have won the toss and elected to bat first against Zimbabwe.

Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first in the first T20I in Bulawayo. Salman Ali Agha, who captains the side, said this series was as much about giving the youngsters a chance as it was about winning. "We just want to put good total on the board. At second time, it could get slower and lower," Agha said. While Pakistan did not hand out any debuts, it was a new-look side. Omair Yousuf, Tayyab Tahir, Irfan Khan and Sufiyan Muqeem all play, while Saim Ayub returned at the top of the order.

Zimbabwe are in good form in this format, having won all their games in the regional qualifier in October, but they face a higher class of opposition now. "We've played a lot of T20 cricket in the past few months," said captain Sikandar Raza. "ODI cricket we played after nine months, but we played T20 cricket consistently and have been producing fantastic results for the country so we are looking forward to have another good game of T20 cricket." Ryan Burl and Wellingston Masakadza, missing from the ODI series, came back into the side.

Zimbabwe: 1 Tadiwanashe Marumani (wk), 2 Brian Bennett, 3 Dion Myers, 4 Sikandar Raza (capt), 5 Ryan Burl, 6 Clive Madande, 7 Tashinga Musekiwa, 8 Wellington Masakadza, 9 Richard Ngarava, 10 Blessing Muzarabani, 11 Trevor Gwandu

Pakistan: 1 Saim Ayub, 2 Tayyab Tahir, 3 Omair Yousuf, 4 Usman Khan (wk) 5, Salman Agha (capt), 6 Irfan Khan, 7 Jahandad Khan, 8 Abbas Afridi, 9 Abrar Ahmed, 10 Haris Rauf, 11 Sufiyan Muqeem