Pakistan batsman Babar Azam: “PCB selectors have conveyed no message to me while dropping [me] from [the Pakistan] T20 cricket team”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan batsman Babar Azam has revealed that the selectors didn’t say anything to him before he was dropped from the T20I team.
Azam used to be Pakistan’s go-to opener in the shortest format, but despite scoring runs regularly, he was criticised for his low strike-rate.
It remains to be seen if the 30-year-old will be given another chance to play T20I cricket, but he did take a step in the right direction with his performance in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Captaining the Peshawar Zalmi, Azam struck 288 runs in 10 games, which included three fifties, at an average of 36 and a strike-rate of 128.57.
“PCB selectors have conveyed no message to me while dropping [me] from [the Pakistan] T20 cricket team,” he was quoted as saying by journalist Arfa Feroz Zake on X, formerly known as Twitter.
After PSL 10 finished, Azam was left out of Pakistan’s team for the three-match T20I series against Bangladesh in Lahore.
He also didn’t make the cut for the tour of Bangladesh, where the men in green were beaten 2-1 in the T20I series.
Pakistan are now touring the West Indies for three T20Is and three ODIs.
The men in green won the T20I series 2-1.
Azam is now expected to feature in the ODI series, which gets underway 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