Mark Waugh: “If I was in the team, Babar Azam might have been dropped from the team. He is a fantastic player. But you have got to make right decisions in T20 cricket”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Australia great Mark Waugh has admitted that Pakistan batsman Babar Azam would not feature in his T20 side.
Waugh described Azam as a “fantastic player”, but suggested he is not the ideal fit for the shortest format.
Azam’s T20 performances have come under scrutiny in recent years, with criticism centred on his inability to consistently adopt an aggressive approach and maintain a high strike-rate.
On that basis, Waugh said he would leave the 31-year-old out of his T20 team.
“If I was in the team, Babar Azam might have been dropped from the team. He is a fantastic player. But you have got to make right decisions in T20 cricket,” he was quoted as saying by Samaa TV.
Azam recently captained the Peshawar Zalmi in the 2026 Pakistan Super League (PSL) and played a key role in leading them to the title as he was the tournament’s top run-scorer with 588 runs in 11 games, which included two centuries and three fifties, at an average of 73.50 and a strike-rate of 145.90.
He then played in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Bangladesh, but only featured in the 2nd Test in Sylhet, where he made scores of 68 and 47.
As for Pakistan’s three-match ODI series against Australia, he finished with 125 runs, which included a top score of 69, at an average of 41.66.
Having been named Pakistan Test captain, Azam will now lead the men in green in their upcoming two-Test series against the West Indies, which will be held in Trinidad and Tobago from July 25 to August 6.
After that, Pakistan will head to England to play three Tests from August 19 to September 13.
Pakistan Squad for West Indies Test Series: Babar Azam (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Fazal, Ali Usman, Azan Awais, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Awais Zafar, Ghazi Ghori (wicketkeeper), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Shan Masood and Ubaid Shah
Pakistan Squad for England Test series: Babar Azam (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Fazal, Ali Usman, Azan Awais, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Awais Zafar, Ghazi Ghori (wicketkeeper), Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel (subject to fitness), Shan Masood and Ubaid Shah