Babar Azam Unhappy With Pakistan’s Selection For South Africa Tour

Mar 16, 2021 at 7:12 PM

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Babar Azam Unhappy With Pakistan’s Selection For South Africa Tour

Babar Azam, Pakistan skipper is reportedly unhappy with the selection of the national squad for the upcoming South Africa and Zimbabwe tours and has conveyed his reservations to chief selector Mohammad Wasim. According to a report in Dawn, the skipper was not impressed with the recently announced squads for the forthcoming tour.

Babar Azam celebrates after reaching 100 runs during a game between Australia and Pakistan. PHOTO: GETTY
Babar Azam celebrates after reaching 100 runs during a game between Australia and Pakistan. PHOTO: GETTY

Babar Azam Felt There Are Way Too Many Changes In The T20I Squad For Africa Tour

Pakistan on Friday named disgraced opener Sharjeel Khan, who served a ban for spot-fixing, in the national T20 squad for the upcoming away tours of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Left-handed batsmen Sharjeel Khan was banned for five years in August 2017 after being found guilty of corruption during the Pakistan Super League held in the UAE but he returned to competitive cricket late last year when he appeared in the Pakistan Super League 5.

“Babar Azam feels there are way too many changes in the T20 Squad,” the English daily said while quoting a source close to the player.

Sharjeel Khan begins return journey after spot-fixing ban
Sharjeel Khan begins return journey after the spot-fixing ban Photo: AFP

The skipper, the report said, is of the view that some squad players did not get enough or any game time in the last series and, therefore, it was unfair to drop them altogether. The national selection panel is under fire since the squads were announced for the upcoming tour.

Babar Azam Was Keen On Selection Of Ammad Butt, Aamer Yameen, Iftikhar Ahmad, Kamran Ghulam, Imad Wasim, Shan Masood, And Zahid Mehmood

Babar Azam was reportedly was keen on the selection of talented players such as Ammad Butt, Aamer Yameen, and Iftikhar Ahmad but all of them were ignored in the final selection, He is not happy with the axing of Kamran Ghulam who scored most runs in the current domestic season. He is also of the view that the inclusion of Shahnawaz Dhani is quite premature as he has just played one domestic season so far and at best merit the T20 squad but certainly not the Test side.

Imad Wasim Pakistan
Imad Wasim. (Photo Source: Twitter)

He wanted Imad Wasim in the T20I Squad but selectors replaced him with Mohammad Nawaz in all three formats while talented spinner Zahid Mehmood was also dro­pped from the T20 Squad despite his fine performance against South Africa in home series which has irked Babar Azam no end. The skipper was also in favour of Shan Masood’s selection for the Zimbabwe Test series after the failure of openers Imran Butt and Abid Ali in the home series against South Africa but the selectors chose to ignore him on the basis of just one bad tour of New Zealand which is unjust, to say the least.

Experts and former cricketers have also expressed their reservations on the exclusion of some players, especially Imad Wasim, whom Babar Azam desperately wanted to be in the team. The paper further quoted the source as saying that Babar Azam was left “thoroughly disappointed”. However, Mohammad Wasim has denied reports that there were any differences in the selection matters.

Squads:

Twenty20: Babar Azam (captain), Sharjeel Khan, Asif Ali, Haider Ali, Danish Aziz, Mohammad Hafeez, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Junior, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Arshad Iqbal, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Qadir

ODIs: Babar Azam (captain), Abdullah Shafiq, Danish Aziz, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Junior, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Hasnain, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Qadir

Tests: Babar Azam (captain), Abid Ali, Abdullah Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Fawad Alam, Imran Butt, Salman Ali Agha, Saud Shakeel, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dhani, Tabis Khan, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Zahid Mahmood

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