Tanvir Ahmed: “Was Fakhar Zaman forced into the team, or was he included to prevent Babar Azam from being selected? How did Fakhar Zaman get in?”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan speedster Tanvir Ahmed has questioned if top order batsman Fakhar Zaman was picked in the T20I team to stop Babar Azam from being selected.
Azam has been left out of the T20I side for a few months now and Tanvir wants answers as to why the 30-year-old is continuing to be ignored by the selectors even though he has been one of the most consistent run-scorers for Pakistan in the shortest format.
If Zaman was not brought in to keep Azam out, Tanvir wants to know if the 35-year-old was “forced into the team” because he cannot understand how the Mardan native got the nod from the selectors.
“Was Fakhar Zaman forced into the team, or was he included to prevent Babar Azam from being selected? How did Fakhar Zaman get in?” he was quoted as saying by A Sports.
Azam 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.
He also wasn’t in the team that took part in the 2025 Asia Cup, where the men in green lost to India in the final.
Next up for Pakistan will be a home series against South Africa, which will comprise two Tests, three T20Is, and three ODIs.
The series will be played from October 12 to 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