Pakistan are all set to take on New Zealand in the first of the five-match T20I series at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

With senior players like Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Haris Rauf returning to the side after a brief break from international cricket, it would be interesting to see how the management would line up the XI.

During their absence, Saim Auybe, Mohammad Haris, Zaman Khan, and Ihsanullah made a good impact during Afghanistan T20Is, in which Pakistan lost 2-1.

In the post-series press conference at the Gaddafi Stadium, Babar confirmed that he will open the batting with Mohammad Rizwan.

This means that both Saim and Haris would bat in the middle order.

Haris already represented Pakistan in the middle order during the ICC T20 World Cup last year in Australia. However, Saim, who made his debut in Sharjah against Afghanistan, hasn’t played much in the middle order.

During the Pakistan Super League, he opened the batting with Babar for Peshawar Zalmi.

It will be interesting to see, will the management trusts the young gun in the middle, or go with the experience of Shan Masood.

Moreover, we saw the trio – Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, and Imad Wasim – playing together in the final T20I against Afghanistan. But the repeat of this spin attack seems impossible at least in the series opener.

Shadab, being the vice-captain, is an automatic choice. However, it would be a tough call to pick between in-form Imad or Nawaz.

With the inclusion of Ihsanullah and Zaman Khan, Pakistan have countless pace options and bowling pairs in its arsenal now.

It would be interesting to see who would join the trio of Naseem Shah, Haris, and Shaheen.

Likely XI:

Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam, Saim Ayub/ Shan Masood, Mohammad Haris, Shadab Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, M Nawaz/Imad Wasim, Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, Ihsanullah/ Zaman Khan and Naseem Shah.