Even though Pakistan looked like pressing the panic button by recalling veterans Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik back to their squad for the upcoming Twenty20 series against Bangladesh, the Misbah-ul-Haq governed Green Army still chose to drop premier pacer Mohammad Amir from the 15-man platoon on Thursday. Amir, who had earlier called it quits with the oldest and the longest format in order to focus on the shorter version of the game was snubbed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as his name went missing for their next assignment at home.

The No.1 T20I side is set to welcome Bangladesh in their den for three-match T20I series, with the first game scheduled to take place on January 24th at the famous Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Naming the 15-man squad for the three-match T20I series, chief selector and head coach Misbah opted to give Pakistan a complete overhaul by making reasonable changes to his side which was thrashed by Sri Lanka 3-0 at home in October last year.

Pakistan are coming to their first home series of the new season after a 2-0 series trounce at the hands of Aaron Finch-led Australia. Announcing the squad on Thursday, Misbah dropped premier batsmen Fakhar Zaman, Asif Ali, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, speed merchants - Mohammad Irfan, Amir and Wahab Riaz for the Bangladesh T20Is. Taking cognizance of the squad announcement, pacer Amir took a sky dig at the apex Pakistan cricket board in a Twitter thread. It all happened when a Pakistani journalist questioned Amir's omission from the Pakistan T20I squad.

However, Amir was quick to shot down the controversial tweet himself. Amir had earlier faced the wrath of former Pakistani cricketers and followers of the game for taking a premature retirement from red-ball cricket. At the expense of Amir, the PCB has given a chance to pacer Haris Rauf in the T20I mix for the first time. "How to return to winning ways was the basis of our selection," Misbah said.