Seven additional players join national camp ahead of Pakistan's African tour

The South Africa-bound Pakistan men’s national team will be joined by seven cricketers in the pre-departure camp, which commences at the Gaddafi Stadium on  19 March, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement on Thursday.

Amad Butt, Faisal Akram, Khushdil Shah, Muhammad Imran, Naseem Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani and Zahid Mahmood are the players who have been invited so that the coaching staff continues to work on their development.

Being part of the pre-departure camp for the white-ball cricketers provides an opportunity for Dhani and Mahmood, who received maiden call-ups in the Test side last week, to find their rhythm before they embark on the journey for Zimbabwe with the Test players on 12 April.

Meanwhile, the men’s national selection committee has also invited Azam Khan and Sohaib Maqsood to the National High-Performance Centre in Lahore as the selectors continue to reward the top domestic performers and expand the pool of players. The pair will work with the world-renowned NHPC coaches.

Following the departure of the white-ball squad for South Africa on 26 March, the players who have been dropped from the national side but remain in consideration for the national team will also be invited tothe NHPC where they will work on various physical and technical aspects of the game.