Babar Azam has been the premier batter of Pakistan for the last few years. However, the star Pakistan batter was dropped from the Test squad after the first Test of the series against England.
Kamran Ghulam was brought in as his replacement for the second and third Test match of the series. He scored a century in his debut Test match in Multan while batting at number four.
Pakistan’s Test captain, Shan Masood opened up on the decision to drop Azam and his future in the Test team. He stated that he has no say on the future of Babar but called him one of the best batter in the world currently. He feels that Babar needs a break after his extended run of poor form in the longest format of the game.
“I think he’s one of the best batsmen in the world. I’m nobody to [say he doesn’t have] a future. He has every quality to be one of the greatest batsmen in Test cricket. He’s always there or thereabouts in the rankings. Sometimes, people need a break,” Masood said while speaking on the BBC Stumped radio programme.
Babar Azam is in the white-ball squad of Pakistan touring Australia
Masood feels that a break from Test cricket will help Babar and also make his comeback in the longest format of the game better. He feels that Babar has played a lot of matches and has suffered a lot. So, a break from cricket will help him to start afresh. He has constantly faced criticism for his poor run of form and not standing up for the team on crunch moments.
Babar, however, has been picked in Pakistan’s white-ball squad that is touring Australia. The selectors want a number of options open as they are set to host the ICC Champions Trophy on their home soil in 2025.
Just after the T20 World Cup in 2024, Azam announced his decision to step down as Pakistan’s white-ball captain on social media. Muhammad Rizwan has been appointed as Pakistan’s new white ball skipped and Salma Ali Agha is the new vice-captain.
