Salman Ali Agha: “Babar Azam is a world-class batter. I’m fully confident Babar will make a comeback in [the] Pakistan cricket team”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan T20I captain Salman Ali Agha said he is “fully confident” Babar Azam will return to the T20I team as he is “a world-class batter”.
Azam seems to have lost his place in the side as he has been overlooked by the national selectors for Pakistan’s last few T20I assignments.
This marks a significant downfall for the 30-year-old, especially since he used to be one of the go-to openers for the men in green in the shortest format.
Despite scoring runs on a regular basis at the top of the order and playing many match-winning knocks, the one thing Azam constantly got criticised for was his strike-rate.
His critics felt he was taking too long to score and thus putting unnecessary pressure on the middle order batsmen to pick up the slack.
Regardless of what has transpired, Salman made it clear that Azam still has a future in the T20I team.
“Babar Azam is a world-class batter. I’m fully confident Babar will make a comeback in [the] Pakistan cricket team,” he was quoted as saying by journalist Arfa Feroz Zake on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Azam recently captained the Peshawar Zalmi in the 2025 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and amassed 288 runs in 10 games, which included three fifties, at an average of 36 and a strike-rate of 128.57.
After PSL 10, he didn’t feature in Pakistan’s three-match T20I series against Bangladesh in Lahore, which they won 3-0.
He was also absent for the tour of Bangladesh, where the men in green lost the T20I series 2-1.
As for the tour of the West Indies, Azam was once again left out for the T20I series, which Pakistan won 2-1.
He did end up playing in the ODI series and amassed 56 runs in three matches at an average of 18.66.
Following the West Indies tour, Pakistan featured in a T20I tri-series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan.
They are now involved in the 2025 Asia Cup, which is taking place in the UAE.
Pakistan won their first game against Oman before losing to arch-rivals India.
Their next match will be against the UAE on September 17 in Dubai.
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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