Babar Azam: “Asif Ali, Khushdil Shah and Iftikhar Ahmed are players of these numbers and they have performed well”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan captain Babar Azam has defended the misfiring power-hitting trio of Asif Ali, Khushdil Shah and Iftikhar Ahmed.
All three bat in the middle order, which has been a major thorn in the side for the men in green.
With Asif, Khushdil and Iftikhar not having lived up to expectations, questions have been mounting about whether they should be in the side.
However, Azam has backed them, saying they have been performing well.
“Asif Ali, Khushdil Shah and Iftikhar Ahmed are players of these numbers and they have performed well,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan recently played a T20 tri-series against New Zealand and Bangladesh, where their middle order woes continued.
They will now take part in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia. Their opening match will be against India on October 23 in Melbourne.
Pakistan’s 2022 T20 World Cup squad: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood
Reserves: Mohammad Haris, Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir