The entirety of the tour will take place at Sharjah with its notoriously short boundaries. Shortly after the culmination of the tour Pakistan will return home to host New Zealand in five T20Is and three ODIs.

With attention generally focusing on the looming 2023 World Cup, the series is an opportunity for several fringe players to stake a claim for selection ahead of the 2024 T20 World Cup set to be held in West Indies and the USA. A number of Pakistan first-team players have been rested, including regular captain Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf and Shaheen Afridi.

Four uncapped players – Saim Ayub, Ihsanullah, Tayyab Tahir and Zaman Khan – have won call-ups off the back of excellent Pakistan Super League campaigns, while there are also recalls for the likes of Azam Khan, Imad Wasim and Faheem Ashraf. There will be plenty of eyes on Ihsanullah in particular, the young fast bowler was a revelation in the 2023 PSL, finishing the tournament as its second leading wicket-taker regularly breaching the 150-kph mark.

For Afghanistan, there is just the one uncapped player in 21-year-old batter Sediqullah Atal while there is also a recall for the experienced Mohammad Nabi. The series begins on Friday, March 24.

AFG vs PAK squad: Full team lists for Afghanistan v Pakistan 2023

Afghanistan: Rashid Khan (c), Fareed Ahmed, Noor Ahmad, Sharafuddin Ashraf, Sediqullah Atal, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Usman Ghani, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Karim Janat, Mohammad Nabi, Gulbadin Naib, Naveen-ul-Haq, Azmatullah Omarzai, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Ibrahim Zadran, Najibullah Zadran, Afsar Zazai

Pakistan: Shadab Khan (c), Iftikhar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Saim Ayub, Mohammad Haris, Ihsanullah, Azam Khan, Zaman Khan, Shan Masood, Mohammad Nawaz, Abdullah Shafique, Naseem Shah, Tayyab Tahir, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Wasim