PCB’s selection committee has just announced the squad for the Pak-Afg-UAE Tri-Series and the Asia Cup, scheduled to take place from August 29 to September 28. Salman Ali Agha’s led team features a number of fresh faces, but some prominent seniors failed to get the selectors’ attention. The fast-bowling department contains seasoned players Shaheen Shah Afridi, Hasan Ali and Haris Rauf. Muhammad Nawaz has also been given a go alongside the spin duo of Abrar Ahmad and Sufyan Moqim.
Although there is only one big name missing from the bowling unit — Naseem Shah — it’s the batting lineup that has raised several eyebrows, and social media has been abuzz since the team was announced. Fakhar, Saim and Farhan have been picked as the openers, while the middle order will feature Salman Ali Agha, Hassan Nawaz, M. Haris, Hussain Talat, and only one pinch hitter, Khushdil Shah. Overall, the batting lineup looks really thin on paper.
The main question being asked by Pakistani fans is whether Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan should have been included in the squad for the Asia Cup. Both cricket fans and pundits are divided on the exclusion of these players from the team. Let’s explore why they were dropped from the T20I team and why they haven’t been selected for the upcoming squads for the Tri-series and Asia Cup.
Babar Azam
Babar made his T20I debut in 2016 and has since performed well in the short format. He has scored 4223 runs in 128 matches at an average of 39.83 and a strike rate of 129.22. Initially, he was slated at the number 3 position in the batting lineup, but after his promotion to the top of the order, he made this position his own and scored most of his runs there. Because of his consistent performances, he reached the top of the T20I batting ranking in November 2018. After staying at the top for more than 2 years, he conceded it to England’s David Malan. Babar regained the top ranking in November 2021, and he is second in the list after Virat Kohli in spending the most days at the top of the T20I batting ranking with 1057 days. He was also named the captain of the ICC Men’s T20I Team of the Year in 2021.
Babar last played for the Pakistani T20I team on December 13, 2024, against South Africa. While playing for the T20I team, people often criticised him for playing too slowly. They also accused him of being a stat-padder – playing for personal milestones instead of playing for the team. Pakistan’s cricket pundits often say that T20 cricket has evolved. Every team needs power hitters and unorthodox players to post high totals, and that is why Babar doesn’t fit that criteria. He takes time to get set and wastes the powerplay. When he does get set and it is time to finish the innings, he gets out. If we go by that logic, Babar’s position in the T20 team does come under scrutiny. However, if we look at Babar’s replacements, we gain a clear picture and the answer to the question of whether he deserves a place in the current team or not.
Saim Ayub has cemented his place as one of the openers in the team, and his partner will most likely be Sahibzada Farhan. Fakhar Zaman, famous among Pakistani fans for his hard hitting, will be slotted in at number 3. Having a reputation for power hitting is one thing, but getting an accurate picture requires looking at the stats. Let’s first compare Babar’s T20I stats with Fakhar Zaman’s
Taken from espncricinfo
Babar has scored 4,223 runs in 128 matches at an average of 39.83, compared to Fakhar’s 1,949 runs in 97 matches at an average of 22.66. It is clear that Babar is more reliable than Fakhar because an average of 22.66 is too low for any opening batter. Now let’s look at the main thing which cost Babar his position in the T20I team – his strike rate. Babar’s strike rate is 129.22 compared to Fakhar’s 131.77. As mentioned previously, Fakhar is regarded as a power hitter, and Babar has been perceived as a stat-padder; however, a strike rate difference of 2.5 doesn’t seem too significant. However, to be a good batter, one needs to have both a good average and a strike rate, and it can be clearly seen from these stats that Babar is more reliable than Fakhar.
Now, let’s look at the thing Babar is often criticized for: who is the bigger match-winner between the two? Babar has scored 2699 runs in 78 matches at an average of 45.7 and a strike rate of 131.2 in the winning cause, whereas Fakhar has scored 1376 runs in 55 matches at an average of 26 and a strike rate of 133.2. Moreover, in these matches, Babar has scored 24 fifties and 3 hundreds, whereas Fakhar has 8 fifties and 0 hundreds. It should be pretty clear by now who the better batter is among these two. And if Babar doesn’t deserve a place in the squad, so should Fakhar.
Now, let’s examine Sahibzada Farhan’s T20I performance. In the 15 matches he has played so far, he has scored 374 runs at an average of 21 and a strike rate of 127.01.
The stats speak for themselves about who should be in the team among these three. You cannot expect Babar to be the jack of all trades. People want him to score good runs at a good pace. They also want him to finish the innings. But every team has specialists designed for their specific roles. You cannot expect Babar to perform all roles. If you don’t have pinch hitters or good finishers in the team, it’s not Babar’s fault. The fault solely lies with the management and selection committee. However, it is Babar who has not only been axed from the team but is also facing the wrath of casual cricket fans.
Muhammad Rizwan
Muhammad Rizwan, the wicketkeeper-batsman, has been one of the top performers in T20 cricket in the past few years. He has come a long way from his early days when he wasn’t deemed fit to play for Karachi Kings in the PSL because he “could not hit a six”. These controversial comments by Imad Wasim, the then captain of KK, have resonated in cricketing circles for years. After taking Multan Sultans to three consecutive PSL finals and winning the title with them on the first try, Rizwan gave a befitting response to all his doubters.
In his T20I international career, Rizwan has been in and out of the team several times. He made his T20I debut in 2015 against Bangladesh. After playing 10 matches, he was dropped from the team and didn’t feature in the T20I squad till 2019. After making a comeback in 2019 and slotted in as an opener, Rizwan scored plenty of runs for the team. In the 106 matches he has played so far, he has scored 3414 runs at a hefty average of 47.41 (highest among Pakistani batters) and a strike rate of 125.37. He has scored 30 fifties and 1 hundred.
Interestingly, Muhammad Rizwan leads the charts for hitting the most number of sixes (95) in T20Is for a Pakistani batter. This is a testament to the sheer will of the guy who “couldn’t hit a six”. The year 2021, in particular, proved to be record-breaking for Rizwan, as he scored 1326 runs (the most in a calendar year) in 26 matches, averaging 73.66 and striking at 134.89. Rizwan has also been one of the most prolific match winners for Pakistan’s
T20I side, scoring 1779 runs in 50 matches at an average of 69.1 and a strike rate of 132.2.
However, Rizwan suffered the same fate as Babar, as their fates were tied in the same way as their opening partnership for Pakistan in T20Is. He was also criticised for his slow strike rate, and he was subsequently dropped from the team on December 13, 2024, alongside Babar, despite scoring 617 runs the same year, in 21 matches at an average of 41.13. He was the captain of the team at the time, but they dropped him and brought Salman Ali Agha as his replacement, making him captain due to his good performance in the Tests.
Now, if we want to scrutinise Rizwan’s place in the team, we must compare his stats to those of his replacement, Salman Ali Agha. Salman has played 20 matches and scored 380 runs at a strike rate of 115.85. He has captained the Pakistani side in 18 matches with 9 wins and 9 losses. But before judging his captaincy stats, his place in the playing XI must come under observation. Here is a complete comparison of Salman and Rizwan in T20Is.
Taken from espncricinfo
Salman has an average of 27.14 compared to Rizwan’s 47.41. And since playing at a fast click was the criterion for axing Rizwan from the team, take a look at their strike rates. Rizwan has a strike rate of 125.37 compared to Salman’s 115.85. How can anyone justify these stats? If Rizwan was removed from captaincy and dropped from the team altogether, what has his replacement achieved so far? And what were the criteria for selecting him in the T20I side and making him captain? His performance in test cricket? But this isn’t test cricket; this is fast-paced cricket, where you’re trying to get rid of “stat-padders” like Babar and Rizwan. Who can justify this mind-boggling selection?
Rizbar’s partnership in T20I cricket
Rizwan and Babar have been the most prolific batting pair in T20I cricket. They hold several records, and here are a few of them:
⦁ 3300 – ⦁ Highest overall partnership runs in T20I
⦁ 10 – The Most number of century partnerships in T20I
⦁ 3 – The Most number of century partnerships in T20I World Cups
⦁ 16 – Second most number of fifty partnerships in T20I
⦁ 46.47 – Highest average among the batting pairs with more than 2000 partnership runs
⦁ 203* – Highest 1st wicket partnership in a chase
Concluding Remarks
Babar and Rizwan have been called a “dependable duo” by several cricket pundits, but they have become a victim of the PCB’s “mismanaging” management. If they are going by the logic of selecting players who play the modern brand of cricket, then you will only be left with Saim Ayub and Muhammad Haris, but their low average also raises questions about their place in the team. Apart from them, no one fits the criteria of a modern-day T20 player.
Babar has sacrificed his batting position in the team to accommodate newcomers. He has stated several times that he wants to bat in the opening position, but the management often makes him bat at number 3, and he never says no. He doesn’t have a fixed position, but he has continued to perform. Despite that, he has been the scapegoat for others’ failures. Rizwan has faced the same fate.
A team like Pakistan’s is accustomed to playing its unique brand of cricket, and it has been largely successful in doing so. This team needs one or two compact players to hold the innings together, so that the youngsters may play freely around them. If not, we should prepare ourselves for more batting collapses to come. It is time for selectors to make informed decisions based on statistics and performances, and that will happen only when they block out the outside noise.
