Ramiz Raja: “We need to understand he sells cricket for Pakistan”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja believes batsman Babar Azam is the only “sellable commodity” in the national team.
He noted that people and potential sponsors want to see Azam playing as he is the key player in the squad.
The 30-year-old hasn’t been in the best form lately, but Pakistan continued to stick with him until the recent three-Test series against England, where he was removed from the team for the second and third Tests.
Ramiz feels that the men in green shouldn’t have done that as Azam is not only a generational talent, but brings in a lot of money from the sponsorship side of things as well.
“We need to understand he sells cricket for Pakistan and there is always this debate happening in Pakistan on whether it’s going to be another failure for Babar Azam or whether he is going to make a comeback and that keeps things interesting. Right now, I don’t see any sellable commodity in this Pakistan team,” he said on Sky Sports as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
In the Test series against England, Azam made scores of 30 and 5 in the first Test in Multan.
Despite not having the Lahore native in the playing XI for the next two Tests, Pakistan went on to win 2-1, which gave them their first Test series win at home since 2021.
The men in green are now facing Australia in a white-ball series that consists of three ODIs and three T20Is.
Afterwards, they will travel to Zimbabwe to play 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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