Yasir Arafat: “If Mike Hesson is backing youngsters, don’t take a backward step to Babar and Rizwan”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former all-rounder Yasir Arafat believes Pakistan shouldn’t “take a backward step” and select batsmen Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in T20Is if white-ball head coach Mike Hesson wants to back younger players.
Azam and Rizwan have missed Pakistan’s last few T20 assignments, including the three-match series against Bangladesh in Lahore, the tour of Bangladesh, and the three-match series against the West Indies.
They also weren’t picked for the T20I tri-series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan in Sharjah, which the men in green won.
Hesson has previously said that Azam and Rizwan still have a future in the shortest format, but Arafat thinks it’s time to move on from them if the 50-year-old wants to build a squad that consists of young talents.
“If Mike Hesson is backing youngsters, don’t take a backward step to Babar and Rizwan,” he told PakPassion.
Pakistan are now involved in the 2025 Asia Cup, which is taking place in the UAE.
They won their first game against Oman by 93 runs before losing to India by seven wickets.
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
ın terms of age babar ıs younger than agha.ın terms of runrate he ıs better than agha.ıf the recent runrates are compared babar ıs as good or even faster fakhar and most of the frontlıne batsmen.furthur more the players are not scorıng runs and thats the problem.they need a senıor batter