Mike Hesson: “A player like Babar has an opportunity to play in the BBL and show he’s improving in those areas in T20s. He’s too good a player not to consider”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan white-ball head coach Mike Hesson wants batsman Babar Azam back in the T20I team as soon as possible as he is “too good a player not to consider”.
Azam is out of the side right now as Hesson wants him to boost his strike-rate and work on his batting against spin.
Hesson added that the 30-year-old has a good opportunity to show if his hard work has paid off when he represents the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League (BBL).
“A player like Babar has an opportunity to play in the BBL and show he’s improving in those areas in T20s. He’s too good a player not to consider,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam was ignored 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, he did feature in the three ODIs Pakistan played against the West Indies and amassed 56 runs at an average of 18.66.
After the West Indies tour, the men in green faced the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan in a T20I tri-series in Sharjah, which they won.
Pakistan are now involved in the 2025 Asia Cup, which is taking place in the UAE.
They began with a 93-run win over Oman before falling to India by seven wickets.
Despite that setback, the men in green fought back to beat the UAE by 41 runs and book their spot in the Super Four.
Unfortunately, Pakistan lost their first Super Four game against India by six wickets.
They will now look to bounce back when they take on Sri Lanka on September 23 in Abu Dhabi.
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