Shoaib Akhtar: “There was no option but to drop Babar and Rizwan”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Legendary Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has admitted there was “no option” but to drop batsmen Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan from the T20I team.
Azam and Rizwan used to be Pakistan’s first-choice openers in the shortest format, but despite scoring runs regularly, they were both criticised for their low strike-rates.
Their critics also accused Azam and Rizwan of putting unnecessary pressure on the middle order batsmen as they had to pick up the slack when the duo got out.
Akhtar noted that since they couldn’t change the way they batted, both batsmen had to be axed in order to bring in other players who played a more aggressive brand of cricket.
“There was no option but to drop Babar and Rizwan,” he was quoted as saying by TOK Sports on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Azam and Rizwan were recently involved in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL), with the former captaining the Peshawar Zalmi and the latter leading the Multan Sultans.
Azam scored 288 runs in 10 games while captaining the Peshawar Zalmi, which included three fifties, at an average of 36 and a strike-rate of 128.57.
As for Rizwan, he finished with 367 runs, which included a century and a fifty, at an average of 52.42 and a strike-rate of 139.54.
After PSL 10, the duo were ignored for Pakistan’s three-match T20I series against Bangladesh in Lahore, which the men in green won 3-0.
They also failed to make the cut for the tour of Bangladesh, where Pakistan lost the T20I series 2-1.
Pakistan are now touring the West Indies for three T20Is and three ODIs.
They won the T20I series 2-1.
Rizwan will now captain Pakistan in the ODI series against the West Indies, while Azam has been included in the squad as well.
The 1st ODI will take place on August 9 in Trinidad.
Pakistan Squad for West Indies T20I Series: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan (wicketkeeper), Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Sufiyan Muqeem
Pakistan Squad for West Indies ODI Series: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Salman Ali Agha, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Mohammad Haris (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Sufiyan Muqeem
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