The team will first head to New Zealand, where they play a T20I triangular series against New Zealand and Bangladesh in Christchurch from October 7-14.
Afridi and Fakhar were also absent from the 18-member roster for the upcoming seven-match T20I series against England.
“Fakhar Zaman has also been rested from the England T20Is so that he can recover from the knee injury he sustained when he landed awkwardly while fielding in the final [of the Asia Cup],” chief selector Mohammad Wasim said. Afridi is expected to resume bowling early next month and will join the squad in Brisbane on October 15, a PCB release stated. “Wasim Jnr has been included after recovering completely from the side strain he suffered during the ACC T20 Asia Cup”, it went on to say.
Pakistan play their first World Cup match against India at the MCG on October 23. They will also play New Zealand, Afghanistan and two qualifiers in the group stage before the top two sides go to the semi-finals.
T20 World Cup squad: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Shan Masood, Usman Qadir
Reserves: Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Haris, Shahnawaz Dahani
England series squad: Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Asif Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Haider Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Aamer Jamal, Iftikhar Ahmed, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Haris, Khushdil Shah, Shahnawaz Dahani, Shan Masood, Usman Qadir, Abrar Ahmed