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The fitness of Rauf, Mohammad Rizwan, Irfan Khan and Azam Khan will be assessed during the seven T20s against Ireland and England.

鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 expecting that he (Rauf) would recover so early and start bowling again,鈥� Babar told reporters in Lahore on Monday as the team prepared to fly out to Ireland, where the first T20 will be played in Dublin on Friday.

鈥淭here鈥檚 pressure on him to make a comeback. There鈥檚 lot of talk going around on his injury and how he will respond to it. But I think he will make a good response because when you give yourself proper rest mentally and physically, you can make a different impact.鈥�

Rauf has been out since dislocating his shoulder in late February during the Pakistan Super League. Since then he has gone through rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.

The seven-member selection committee, which also includes Babar, have named fast bowler Hasan Ali, who last played a T20 international in 2022, as backup for Rauf.

Babar backed the inclusion of Hasan after pace bowlers Zaman Khan, Mohammad Wasim and the PSL鈥檚 top wicket-taker Mohammad Ali were omitted.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no injustice with anyone. We debated a lot on the World Cup combination and Hasan is there as backup for Rauf because of his experience,鈥� Babar said. 鈥淶aman and Ali are new-ball bowlers but we already have enough new-ball bowling options.鈥�

Fast bowler Mohammad Amir, who played in two T20s against New Zealand after ending his retirement, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Abbas Afridi are Pakistan鈥檚 pace options.

Under Babar, Pakistan has done well in the last two T20 World Cups, reaching the semifinals in 2021 at the United Arab Emirates and losing to England in the final at the 2022 tournament in Australia.

The chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Mohsin Naqvi, has promised a cash award of $100,000 to every player if the team wins the tournament.

鈥淲hat happened in the past is in the past, unfortunately we couldn鈥檛 finish the way we wanted,鈥� Babar said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e doubly confident and believe we can bring the trophy home.”

Pakistan starts its campaign against host United States in Dallas on June 6 before taking on arch-rival India in New York three days later.

White-ball head coach Gary Kirsten will likely join the team in England after completing his Indian Premier League assignment with Gujarat Titans.

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AP cricket: