Babar Azam has been out of the T20I side for a while now.
Pakistan have announced their squad for the upcoming tri-series and Asia Cup 2025, with two big names – Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan – not considered again. The team management has backed the young group, which has performed well and, more importantly, batted with intent.
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Babar has been out of the T20I side for a while now, with his most recent outing in this format coming in December last year. Since then, the team has consistently opted for fresh faces like Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub, and they have showcased the ability to perform consistently and bat at a higher strike rate than Babar or Rizwan.
Pakistan’s head coach, Mike Hesson, had a press conference following the squad announcement, where he answered a range of questions, including the reason for Babar’s exclusion. Hesson revealed that the premium batter has been asked to work on his strike rate and will have the opportunity to prove himself in the upcoming Big Bash League (BBL).
“There’s no doubt Babar has been asked to improve in some areas, particularly against spin and in terms of his strike rate. A player like Babar also has the opportunity to play in the BBL and showcase improvements in those areas of T20 cricket. He’s simply too good a player for us not to consider.”
Question marks have always been aplenty around Babar Azam’s strike rate in T20s, but he was too consistent to drop, even if those runs came at a tepid rate. However, the selectors finally had enough when the team started losing more games than ever and decided to look beyond the star batter, backed by Mike Hesson’s T20 philosophy.
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That meant the team opted for more attacking players, making a bold move to drop Babar, for which they received ample criticism from fans. However, Hesson has backed the young core to come good, and positive signs have been visible every time they come to bat in this format now.
Between 2023 and before getting dropped, Babar scored 868 runs at an average of 34.72 and a strike rate of 134.99 in 27 T20I innings, including six fifties and a century. Since 2023, his strike rate against spinners has been a mere 128.48, and he takes around 7.60 deliveries for every boundary in T20s, which can’t work in modern-day cricket since teams are smart enough to exploit his weaknesses.
For Pakistan, new players performed immediately and maximised different bowling types, so the management decided to persist with them. Babar is still a quality player and can return to the setup, but he must prioritise batting quickly rather than piling on runs that eventually mean nothing.
