Faheem Ashraf: “Our people have criticised Babar so much that he is trying to change his game, and for this reason, he is unable to perform in every match”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan all-rounder Faheem Ashraf believes batsman Babar Azam is “trying to change his game” because he is being criticised so much.
He blamed this as the reason why Azam “is unable to perform in every match”.
Azam’s form has been a major concern for many months as he has struggled to score runs consistently.
The 30-year-old has been working hard to try and get back to his best, but Faheem reiterated that constantly being bombarded with criticism doesn’t help.
“Our people have criticised Babar so much that he is trying to change his game, and for this reason, he is unable to perform in every match,” he was quoted as saying by A Sports.
Azam recently captained the Peshawar Zalmi in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and accumulated 288 runs in 10 games, which included three fifties, at an average of 36 and a strike-rate of 128.57.
Afterwards, he was overlooked by the national selectors for Pakistan’s T20I series against Bangladesh in Lahore, the T20I tour of Bangladesh, and the three-match T20I series against the West Indies.
However, the Lahore-born batsman did take part in Pakistan’s three-match ODI series against the West Indies in Trinidad and scored 56 runs at an average of 18.66.
Pakistan are now featuring in a T20I tri-series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan in Sharjah, which will finish on September 7.
Following this, they will be involved in the 2025 Asia Cup, which will take place in the UAE from September 9 to 28.
Azam failed to make the cut when the squad was 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
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