Why Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan Didn't Deserve Place In Asia Cup Squad

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) dropped a bomb as it announced the Asia Cup 2025 squad on Sunday, leaving out the superstar duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. The Asia Cup 2025 will be the first multi-nation event that will not feature either Babar or Rizwan in recent times. As the cricket world comes to terms with the decision made by the PCB, former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez had already explained the reasons that prompted the selectors to snub the veteran duo.

The PCB made its intention clear to move away from the 'conservative style' of batting in T20 cricket, a methodology on which the games of both Babar and Rizwan are based. 

Since 2022, Rizwan's T20I strike rate is 122.26, and Babar's is 127.34, among the lowest for openers from Test-playing nations. In the same time period, Babar Azam's T20I strike rate is 127.34. The PCB, through its selection for the Asia Cup, has made it clear that it prioritizes players like Saim Ayub, who has a higher strike rate (137.95), to align with a "fearless cricket" approach 

"Calling them key players would be wrong and unfair. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are not Pakistan cricket's key players at the moment. Key players are those who win matches for Pakistan," former Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez said on a Pakistan-based YouTube channel.

"If we look at the past year and a half to two years, the players showing consistent performances are Salman Ali Agha, Saim Ayub, and Hasan Nawaz. Why aren't we talking about them? They are the ones currently winning matches for Pakistan," he added.

Hafeez had shared similar skepticism about the performances of the pace bowling duo of Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah. While the former was picked, the latter too was snubbed by the selectors for the Asia Cup.

"Both need to be fully committed on the field; without that, positive results won't follow. The same applies to Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi - they're not delivering match-winning performances for Pakistan," he said.

Naseem Shah's exclusion doesn't seem to be a case of pure performance-based, as his injury record arguably forced the selectors to snub him over workload management concerns. 

Topics mentioned in this article

Pakistan Cricket Team Babar Azam Mohammad Rizwan Mohammad Hafeez Naseem Shah Cricket