Javed Afridi: “Bring Back Babar & Rizwan! Pakistan Cricket deserves its best players on the field. Stop the politics”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Peshawar Zalmi owner Javed Afridi wants Pakistan batsmen Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan back in the T20I team immediately, saying “stop the politics”.
Azam and Rizwan have been out of the T20I side for a few months, even though they were once the go-to openers and regularly scored runs.
It is assumed that they were removed from the squad due to their low strike-rates, but Afridi stressed that the men in green need them back big time.
“Bring Back Babar & Rizwan! Pakistan Cricket deserves its best players on the field. Stop the politics!” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Azam and Rizwan have missed Pakistan’s T20I series against Bangladesh in Lahore, the T20I tour of Bangladesh, the T20I series against the West Indies, and the T20I tri-series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan.
They were also ignored for the ongoing 2025 Asia Cup, which is being played in the UAE.
Pakistan beat Oman and the UAE in the group stage, while also losing to India.
Despite that defeat, they progressed to the Super Four stage, where they suffered another loss to India.
The men in green will now look to get their campaign back on track 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