Selectors also considering the idea of giving youngsters a go in the home series.
Misbah ul Haq in a video message released by Pakistan Cricket Board said he has held a meeting with the panel of selectors which comprises of six coaches of the National T20 Cup participating teams. Performances of the players in the domestic tournament were deeply discussed. The second meeting will be held in Rawalpindi as by then selectors will have a large sample size to analyse players.
“We have a plan to select 22 players for both formats [ODI and T20] for the Zimbabwe series. Further we are going release some of the players after the one-day series to enable them participate in the domestic season,” Misbah said.
The head coach hoped the National T20 Cup and the Zimbabwe matches would provide a perfect platform for the selectors to pick the best talent for the upcoming tour of New Zealand and two mega events which includes T20 World Cup and T20 Asia Cup.
Misbah said for the series against Zimbabwe, it will also be important that Pakistan win to raise the confidence level of the players, besides to test the best youngsters.
“It is our first priority to build a match-winning combination as victory against Zimbabwe will also raise the morale of the boys so we have to consider carefully how many youngsters can be tried,” he said.
Misbah added since Pakistan would be playing a One-day International after a long time, intra-squad matches would also be held to prepare the squad for that format.
Pakistan last played three ODI matches series against Sri Lanka in Karachi in September last year, winning it 2-0 after opening fixture was washed out.
