NEW DELHI: Former Pakistan skipper Babar Azam and pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi were on Sunday dropped from the Pakistan squad for the second and third Tests against England.
After the embarrassing innings defeat in Multan in the first Test, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced the squad for the final two matches on Sunday afternoon and Babar and Shaheen were not included in the 16-man squad.
Interestingly, under-fire Shan Masood has retained his spot as the captain.
“We’ve made the decision to rest Babar Azam and a few other players,” said selector Aaqib Javed in a Pakistan Cricket Board release.
Babar had not scored a fifty in his last 18 Test innings and managed just 30 and five in the first Test defeat against England.
Pacer Naseem Shah and keeper-batter Sarfaraz Ahmed have also been rested for the remainder of the England Test series.
“We are confident that this break from international cricket will help these players regain their fitness, confidence and composure, ensuring they return in top shape for future challenges.
“They remain some of our finest talents with much more to contribute to Pakistan cricket. We are fully committed to supporting them during this period so they can come back even stronger,” Javed added.
The four key players in the squad have been replaced by Haseebullah, Mehran Mumtaz, Kamran Ghulam (all uncapped), fast bowler Mohammad Ali and off-spinner Sajid Khan, the board said in a release.
The second and third Tests are scheduled to be held in Multan and Rawalpindi respectively.
Since making 161 against New Zealand in Karachi back in December 2022, Babar had faced difficulties in red-ball cricket, both domestically and internationally.
His best score since then was 41 against Australia in Melbourne last year.
Babar also had a tough time in the previous home series against Bangladesh, managing only 64 runs across four innings.
It has been a challenging year for Babar, who was reinstated as white-ball captain earlier in 2024. Pakistan managed to secure a series win only against Ireland in a T20 bilateral series. However, they made an early exit from the T20 World Cup after losing in the group stage to the United States and their arch-rival India.
Babar decided to step down from white-ball captaincy earlier this month, aiming to focus more on his batting.
Nevertheless, he continued to struggle against England on a flat Multan pitch. Notably, three of his teammates – captain Shan Masood, Abdullah Shafique, and Salman Ali Agha – scored centuries in the first innings.
Following Pakistan’s loss in the first Test, the Pakistan Cricket Board reconstituted its selection committee. The new committee includes Javed, former ICC umpire Aleem Dar, former captain Azhar Ali, and analyst Hasan Cheema.
Pakistan squad (for 2nd and 3rd Tests):
Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Haseebullah (wicket-keeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mehran Mumtaz, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha and Zahid Mehmood.
