Follow UsPakistan announced their squad for the Asia Cup and the Afghanistan-UAE tri-series on August 17 (Sunday), and the Men in Green left out both Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. The two stalwarts have not played a single T20I for Pakistan this year, and their latest Asia Cup snub is the clearest indication yet that the two will not be considered for the T20 World Cup next year.
Talking about Babar’s omission, head coach Mike Hesson revealed that the management have asked the right-hander to work on his strike rate, especially against spin. Babar has been striking at 128 in all T20s this year, and this number further reduces to 125 against spin. In last year’s T20 World Cup, Babar had struck at just 101.67 overall.
“There’s no doubt Babar has been asked to improve in some areas, particularly against spin and in terms of his strike-rate. Those are aspects I know he’s working very hard on at the moment,” Hesson said, reported Geo Super.
But Hesson believes Babar is too good a player to not make a comeback eventually. The 30-year-old, later this year, will have an opportunity to showcase his worth in the Big Bash League (BBL), where he’ll be representing Sydney Sixers.
“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 of a player for us not to consider.”
Hesson said that the other top-order batters had fully earned their place in the squad. He singled out opener Sahibzada Farhan, who was the Player of the Match in the series decider against West Indies.
“The players we have have performed exceptionally well. For example, Sahibzada Farhan played six games and won three Man of the Match awards. You want players who, when they score runs, have a huge impact on the outcome of the game—and that’s exactly what we ask from Saim and Fakhar as well,” the head coach said.
Ahead of the Asia Cup, Pakistan will be playing a tri-series in Sharjah against UAE and Afghanistan. Hesson feels the tri-series, which starts on August 29, will be the ideal preparation for the Men in Green heading into the multi-nation event next month.
“In the Asia Cup, we are going to face some of the best spin-bowling sides, and this will be a great opportunity ahead of the T20 World Cup. Playing in Sharjah will be a real challenge against spin, and that’s why our middle order is so critical,” he said.