Former Pakistan spinner Babar Azam was axed from Pakistan’s Asia Cup 2025 squad that was named on Sunday, August 17. Mohammad Rizwan, the Pakistan ODI skipper, was also axed from the squad.
The PCB has selected a young side for the Asia Cup side led by their T20I skipper Salman Afgha. Several youngsters who did well in the recent T20I series against West Indies, when both Rizwan and Babar did were dropped.
Both played the recent ODI series against West Indies, but their numbers were hugely disappointing for them to be considered for the Asia Cup. In Pakistan’s most recent ODI series in the West Indies, he scored 47, 0, and 9 runs in three matches. Mohammad Rizwan scored 53 runs in the first ODI, followed by 16 runs in the second ODI and a duck in the third.
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Thus, both Babar and Rizwan, who are among the top-scorers in T20I cricket, were dropped from Pakistan’s Asia Cup 2025 squad. Talking about the reason behind Babar’s snub, Pakistan’s white-ball coach Mike Hesson said that he needs to improve his batting against spin and work on his overall strike rate in the format. Babar Azam's strike rate in ODIs is well below 100.
“There’s no doubt Babar’s been asked to improve in some areas around taking on spin and in terms of his strike rate. Those are things he’s working really hard on. But at the moment, the players we have, have done exceptionally well. Sahibzada Farhan has played six games (against Bangladesh and West Indies) and won three Player of the Match awards” Hesson said.
He further urged Babar to improve his strike-rate by playing in the Big Bash League (BBL) and prove his improvement.
“A player like Babar has an opportunity to play in the BBL and show he’s improving in those areas in T20s. He’s too good a player not to consider” Hesson said.
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Hesson Urges Youngsters To Contribute In Babar, Rizwan's Absence
Mike Hesson further asked the rest of the batters to contribute to the team’s success and not just rely on the two veteran batters.
“We were challenged with three different surfaces (in recent matches against Bangladesh and West Indies). In Lahore, the surfaces were flat and the batting excelled. We went to Bangladesh, where they were incredibly challenging and low-scoring games. Our top-order sets the game up. All the games we won, the top order performed really well. The third game in the West Indies, our openers put on 140 (138). We need that at a run rate that gets us ahead of the game. T20 is all about setting the game up and being ahead of the game all the time in case you get yourself out. From a batting point of view we’ve got a line-up that can continue to do that,” Hesson concluded saying.
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