Shaheen Shah Afridi: “Rizwan and Babar are world-class players and have played excellent cricket for Pakistan, and they will play in the future as well”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan left-arm fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi is confident that batsmen Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan will return to the T20I team as they are “world-class players”.
Azam and Rizwan have missed all of Pakistan’s recent T20I assignments, which include a three-match series against Bangladesh in Lahore, a tour of Bangladesh, a three-match series against the West Indies, and a T20I tri-series against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Afghanistan.
The only series they were involved in was the three-match ODI series between Pakistan and the West Indies in Trinidad.
Rizwan, who is Pakistan’s ODI captain, made 69 runs, which included a top score of 53, at an average of 23.
As for Azam, he finished with 56 runs at an average of 18.66.
“Rizwan and Babar are world-class players and have played excellent cricket for Pakistan, and they will play in the future as well,” Afridi was quoted as saying by A Sports.
Following the T20I tri-series, Pakistan played in the 2025 Asia Cup, but neither Azam nor Rizwan were included in the squad.
Afridi did make the cut and finished as Pakistan’s highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 10 victims in seven games at an average of 16.40 and an economy rate of 6.60.
The men in green will be back in action soon as they will host South Africa for two Tests, three T20Is, and three ODIs, which will take place from October 12 to November 8.
Azam, Rizwan, and Afridi were all included in the squad that was announced for the two-Test series.
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
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