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On Sunday, August 17, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced their 17-member squad for the upcoming tri-nation series and the Asia Cup 2025. Notably, Pakistan is scheduled to play a tri-series involving the UAE and Afghanistan ahead of the Asia Cup from August 29 to September 7, followed by the highly-anticipated continental tournament, which is scheduled to be played from September 9 to 28 in the UAE.
While the squad announcement had some surprise exclusions as two of the senior batters including Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan missed a place in the 17-men squad, whereas it has likes of Haris Rauf, Shaheen Afridi, along with star batters in Fakhar Zaman and Khushdil Shah. Soon after squad announcement, there were questions raised on the omission of senior players like Babar and Rizwan.
He’s simply too good a player for us not to consider..: Mike Hesson on Babar Azam’s omission
Thereafter in a press conference following the squad announcement, Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson was asked about the omission of Babar Azam. Clarifying the air surrounding the snub, Hesson stated, “There’s no doubt Babar has been asked to improve in some areas, particularly against spin and in terms of his strike rate. Those are aspects I know he’s working very hard on at the moment.”
Former New Zealand cricketer also remarked that a player of the caliber of Babar Azam cannot be missed, but he has to work on a few areas and can improve in the upcoming edition of Big Bash League. “A player like Babar also has the opportunity to play the Big Bash League and showcase improvements in those areas of T20 cricket. He’s simply too good a player for us not to consider,” Hesson added.
The 30-year-old batter has so far played 128 T20Is for Pakistan. In the aforementioned games, he has registered 4223 runs in 121 innings, averaging at 39.83. However, his current strike is 129.22, which has drawn massive criticism in the recent past.
Pakistan’s Asia Cup 2025 squad:
Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Haris (wk), Salman Agha (C), Hasan Nawaz, Khushdil Shah, Faheem Ashraf, Hussain Talat, Mohammad Nawaz, Abrar Ahmed, Sufiyan Muqeem, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Wasim, Salman Mirza.
