PCB Excludes Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Afridi from Upcoming Series
Major Decision by Pakistan Cricket Board
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has made a significant decision regarding three of its star players. Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Afridi have been omitted from the national team. These players will not participate in the upcoming series against Bangladesh, which raises questions about the appropriateness of this decision.
Upcoming Series Against Bangladesh
Pakistan is set to host Bangladesh for a series starting on May 27. The PCB has announced the squad for this home series, notably excluding Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Afridi. The series will consist of three T20 matches.
New Leadership for the T20 Team
On May 21, the PCB revealed a 16-member T20 squad, led by Salman Ali Agha, with Shadab Khan appointed as the vice-captain. This series will mark the first assignment for Mike Hesson as the head coach of the Pakistan team.
Reasons Behind the Exclusion
The rationale for excluding Babar, Shaheen, and Rizwan from the team has not been explicitly stated. However, the PCB's press release indicated that the selected players performed well in the PSL 10. Babar scored 288 runs in 10 matches, while Rizwan fared slightly better with 367 runs, including one century. Shaheen managed to take only 11 wickets in the same number of matches.
Previous Exclusions in April
This is not the first instance of Babar, Rizwan, and Shaheen being left out of the T20 squad. They were also absent from the team during the T20 series against New Zealand in April, suggesting that the PCB may no longer consider them fit for the T20 format.
Pakistan's T20 Squad for Bangladesh Series
The squad for the T20 matches against Bangladesh includes: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Wasim Jr., Mohammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, and Sam Ayub.