Pakistan leaves out Babar, Shaheen and Naseem for remaining 2 tests against England

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan dropped a number of players including Babar Azam on Sunday as it rung in the changes for the remaining two test matches against England after suffering a historic innings and 47 runs defeat in the first test at Multan.

Babar, who hasn’t scored a half century in his last 18 test innings, was also released from the 16-member squad along with fast bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and reserve wicketkeeper Sarfaraz Ahmed.

“We’ve had to carefully consider current form of the player and the urgency to bounce back in the series,” said Aqib Javed, one of the members of the selection committee. “In the best interest of Pakistan cricket as well as the players, we’ve made the decision to rest Babar Azam, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Shaheen Shah Afridi.”

Javed said that the “break from international cricket” will help the rested players to regain their fitness, confidence and composure.

“They remain some of our finest talents with much more to contribute to Pakistan cricket,” Javed said. “We are fully committed to supporting them during this period so they can come back even stronger.”

Uncapped Haseebullah replaced Sarfaraz as Pakistan also brought in spinners Noman Ali, Sajid Khan and Zahid Mahmood to counter England’s top-order batters in the remaining two test matches with slow bowlers. Leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed was ruled out of the series after he was hospitalized during the first test due to fever.

Pakistan is planning to play the second test on the same pitch where it became the first team to lose a test match after posting 500-plus runs in the first innings. Harry Brook’s scintillating triple century and Joe Root’s patient 262 helped England amass 823-7 declared as Pakistan capitulated for 220 in the second innings inside the first session on the fifth and final day to trail 1-0 in the series.

Another uncapped player, Kamran Ghulam, who has been scoring consistently in domestic cricket, will likely replace Babar at No. 4 and make his debut in the second test, starting Tuesday.

Pakistan has failed to claim 20 wickets in five of its last six test matches with captain Shan Masood losing all six games. Both Afridi and Naseem were among six Pakistan bowlers to concede more than 100 runs in England's record-breaking first-innings score at Multan that was reached at a rate of more than five runs an over.

Since scoring 161 against New Zealand at Karachi in December 2022, Babar has struggled in red-ball cricket — both at home and abroad. His top score of 41 came against Australia at Melbourne last year. Babar also struggled in the previous home series against Bangladesh, scoring only 64 in four innings before he made 30 and 5 in the first test against England.

It had been a turbulent year for Babar since he was recalled as white-ball captain earlier in 2024. Pakistan could win only against Ireland in a bilateral T20 series before making an early exit from the T20 World Cup after losing group matches to the United States and archrival India.

Babar quit the white-ball captaincy earlier this month, saying he wanted to focus on his batting. However, Pakistan’s premier batter struggled against England on a flat wicket in Multan where three of his teammates – captain Shan Masood, Abdullah Shafique and Salman Ali Agha — scored centuries in the first innings.

The Pakistan Cricket Board reconstituted its selection committee hours after Pakistan lost the first test, including Javed, former ICC umpire Aleem Dar, former captain Azhar Ali and analyst Hasan Cheema.

Pakistan white-ball batsman Fakhar Zaman criticized the selection committee for dropping Babar and pointed to India, which stood behind Virat Kohli during his struggles in red-ball cricket between 2020-23.

“India didn’t bench Virat Kohli during his rough stretch between 2020 and 2023, when he averaged 19.33, 28.21, and 26.50, respectively,” Fakhar wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“If we are considering sidelining our premier batsman, arguably the best Pakistan has ever produced, it could send a deeply negative message across the team. There is still time to avoid pressing the panic button; we should focus on safeguarding our key players rather than undermining them.”

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Squad: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel, Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mehran Mumtaz, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha and Zahid Mehmood.

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AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

The Associated Press