Michael Vaughan: “Go 1 nil down in the series and decide to drop the best player in Babar Azam. I guess Pakistan cricket is full of surprises but this tops the lot… absolutely stupid decision… unless he has asked for a break”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former England captain Michael Vaughan has slammed Pakistan’s decision to drop Babar Azam during the recent three-Test series against England.
Azam, who has struggled to score runs consistently, only featured in the first Test in Multan, where he made scores of 30 and 5.
Despite not being anywhere near his best for the past few months, Vaughan was outraged that Pakistan didn’t stick with Azam and keep backing him until he regained his form.
“Go 1 nil down in the series and decide to drop the best player in Babar Azam. I guess Pakistan cricket is full of surprises but this tops the lot… absolutely stupid decision… unless he has asked for a break,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Even though Pakistan opted not to pick Azam for the second and third Tests against England, they ended up winning 2-1, which was their first Test series victory on home soil since 2021.
The men in green will now play three ODIs and three T20Is against Australia from November 4 to 18.
After that, they will travel to Zimbabwe for three ODIs and three T20Is from November 24 to December 5.
Pakistan Squad for Australia ODI Series: Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi
Pakistan Squad for Australia T20I Series: Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan, Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Omair Bin Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Usman Khan
Pakistan Squad for Zimbabwe ODI Series: Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Irfan Khan, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shahnawaz Dahani, Tayyab Tahir
Pakistan Squad for Zimbabwe T20I Series: Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Irfan Khan, Omair bin Yousuf, Qasim Akram, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir, Usman Khan
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