PCB Likely to Name Separate Squads for West Indies Series

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has officially confirmed that it is currently in discussions with Cricket West Indies (CWI) about making changes to the upcoming white-ball cricket series. The main idea is to possibly replace the scheduled One Day Internationals (ODIs) with more Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is).

While speaking to the media after announcing Pakistan’s squad for their tour to Bangladesh, PCB’s Chief Operating Officer (COO), Sumair Ahmad Syed, shared updates on the matter. He mentioned that the talks with CWI are in their final stages and that an official decision will be made very soon.

“As everyone knows, the T20 World Cup is just around the corner and will take place early next year,” Sumair explained. “Our main goal is to give our team as much T20 practice as we can. That’s why we’re playing a T20 series against Bangladesh, and we are also trying to convince the West Indies to change their ODI matches into T20 games. You can expect some news about this in a day or two,” he added.

According to the original plan, Pakistan is supposed to play three T20Is and three ODIs on their tour of the West Indies. These matches are scheduled to be held in the Caribbean. However, the PCB now wants to turn the 50-over ODIs into shorter, 20-over matches. This move is meant to help the team better prepare for two major upcoming tournaments — the 2025 ACC Men’s Asia Cup and the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

The PCB also said that they will announce the final squad for the West Indies tour only after the format of the series is confirmed. If the ODIs are kept in the schedule, then two different squads might be selected — one for T20Is and another for ODIs.

In the meantime, Cricket West Indies (CWI) has already started selling tickets for the white-ball series. The first T20I is set to be played on July 31 at Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida. The remaining two T20 matches will take place on August 2 and 3. After that, the teams are expected to travel to Trinidad for the three ODIs, which are scheduled on August 8, 10, and 12.

To attract more fans to the T20I series, CWI has launched a special promotion — fans can buy two tickets for the price of one. Also, individual ticket prices for the T20Is have been reduced by 50%. As for the ODIs, ticket prices range from $8 to $175, depending on the seating and venue.

Even though the PCB is strongly pushing for more T20 matches instead of ODIs, reports suggest that Cricket West Indies is not fully on board with the idea. Sources close to the matter have shared that CWI is leaning toward keeping the original schedule unchanged. An official reply from the West Indies board is still awaited, but for now, it seems they prefer to stick with the planned series format.

READ MORE: Pakistan Announces Squad for Bangladesh T20I Series