Salman Ali Agha: “Babar Azam and I used to play cricket together at the school level. He played for Muslim Model School and I used to represent Central Model School. Our teams used to play matches against each other, and that’s where our friendship began”

Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani

Pakistan T20I captain Salman Ali Agha said he and star batsman Babar Azam used to play school cricket together and have been friends for a long time.

Salman noted that after school cricket, he and Azam “played together in Under-16 and Under-19” cricket.

Both players are now key members of the national team, even though Azam is currently going through a tough time with the bat.

“Babar Azam and I used to play cricket together at the school level. He played for Muslim Model School and I used to represent Central Model School. Our teams used to play matches against each other, and that’s where our friendship began,” Salman told Cricket Pakistan.

“Later on, we played together in Under-16 and Under-19. I’ve known Babar for a long time.”

Azam recently featured in Pakistan’s three-match ODI series against New Zealand and struck 129 runs, which included two fifties, at an average of 43.

He then proceeded to captain the Peshawar Zalmi in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and scored 288 runs in 10 games, which included three fifties, at an average of 36 and a strike-rate of 128.57.

Following PSL 10, Pakistan went up against Bangladesh in a three-match T20I series, but Azam was not included in the squad.

Salman led the men in green and finished with 90 runs, which included a career-best knock of 56, at an average of 45 and a strike-rate of 155.17.

He also took one wicket at an average of 43 and an economy rate of 10.75.

Pakistan won the series 3-0.

The men in green will be back in action soon as they will head to Bangladesh to play a three-match T20I series, which will take place in Mirpur from July 20 to 24.

Pakistan Squad for Bangladesh T20I Series: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper) and Saim Ayub

MORE PAKISTAN CRICKET NEWS: I have always been aggressive, Pakistan batsman insists that has constantly been his role

[TS_Poll id=”149″]