Rumman Raees: “People want to drop Babar from ODIs. That’s unbelievable. No one in Pakistan matches his class, consistency, and skill in this format”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan left-arm seamer Rumman Raees admitted it’s unbelievable that people want batsman Babar Azam to be dropped from the ODI team.
Azam has scored 6,291 runs in 134 ODIs, which includes 19 centuries and 37 fifties, at an average of 54.23.
Given what the 30-year-old has achieved in the 50-over format so far, Raees pointed out that “no one in Pakistan matches his class, consistency, and skill”.
“People want to drop Babar from ODIs. That’s unbelievable. No one in Pakistan matches his class, consistency, and skill in this format. He is our best batter in ODIs, yet he was forced to open. Instead of strengthening the team, we are making things worse,” he was quoted as saying on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Azam recently captained the Peshawar Zalmi in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and struck 288 runs in 10 games, which included three fifties, at an average of 36 and a strike-rate of 128.57.
Afterwards, Pakistan played a three-match T20I series against Bangladesh, but he wasn’t part of the squad.
He also missed out on the tour of Bangladesh, where the men in green lost the T20I series 2-1.
As for the tour the West Indies, Azam was once again left out of the T20I series, which Pakistan won 2-1.
He did feature in the three ODIs that were played and made 56 runs at an average of 18.66.
Pakistan ended up losing the ODI series 2-1.
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