Mike Hesson: “If he (Babar) could secure his place in the team, he would play alongside Fakhar Zaman or Saim Ayub”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan white-ball head coach Mike Hesson has announced Babar Azam will either bat with Fakhar Zaman or Saim Ayub if he makes his T20I comeback.
Hesson noted that Azam is working on certain areas of his game and will play as an opener should he return in the shortest format.
The 30-year-old used to be one of Pakistan’s go-to opening batsmen in T20Is, but was constantly criticised for batting too slow.
“If he (Babar) could secure his place in the team, he would play alongside Fakhar Zaman or Saim Ayub,” Hesson was quoted as saying by A Sports.
Azam was recently involved in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL), where he captained the Peshawar Zalmi and scored 288 runs in 10 games, which included three fifties, at an average of 36 and a strike-rate of 128.57.
After the PSL, he was left out of Pakistan’s squad for the T20I series against Bangladesh in Lahore, the T20I tour of Bangladesh, and the three-match T20I series against the West Indies.
Azam returned to feature in Pakistan’s three-match ODI series against the West Indies in Trinidad and made 56 runs at an average of 18.66.
Pakistan’s next assignment will be a T20I tri-series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan in Sharjah, which will take place from August 29 to September 7.
Following that, the men in green will participate in the 2025 Asia Cup, which will be played in the UAE from September 9 to 28.
Azam was not included in the team Pakistan announced for the T20I tri-series and Asia Cup.
Pakistan squad for UAE T20I tri-series and 2025 Asia Cup: 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, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem