Mickey Arthur: “How Babar is not in this batting line-up is totally beyond me”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former head coach Mickey Arthur admitted he is completely baffled by Pakistan’s decision to exclude batsman Babar Azam from the team for the 2025 Asia Cup.
Azam was once Pakistan’s first-choice opener in the shortest format, regularly scoring runs and often winning matches on his own.
However, the 30-year-old kept getting criticised for his low strike-rate, which many attributed to him eventually being removed from the T20I squad.
Considering the men in green’s batting struggles throughout the Asia Cup, Arthur questioned if leaving Azam out was such a good idea.
“How Babar is not in this batting line-up is totally beyond me!” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Azam didn’t only miss the Asia Cup as he was previously left out of the side for the three-match 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.
The Lahore native is set to make a return for Pakistan’s home series against South Africa as he was included in the Test squad.
Pakistan and South Africa will play two Tests, three T20Is, and three ODIs between October 12 and November 8.
Pakistan squad for South Africa Test series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Asif Afridi, Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Noman Ali, Rohail Nazir (wicketkeeper), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi