Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have been excluded from Pakistan’s T20I squad for the upcoming Asia Cup in the UAE. In the absence of two of the most experienced and popular Pakistani cricketers, Salman Agha is set to lead the 17-member squad, which will also participate in the tri-series against the UAE and Afghanistan in the lead-up to the Asia Cup.
Why were Babar and Rizwan not included in the Pakistan T20 squad?
Pakistan’s head coach Mike Hesson revealed earlier this week that Babar had been recently struggling to improve his T20 game.
“I think it’s really harsh to challenge a player on their form in three games,” Hesson told the press when asked about Babar’s shaky form in some of his previous games.
“Babar played nicely in the first ODI but missed out on the next two. There’s no doubt Babar’s been asked to improve in some areas around taking on spin and in terms of his strike rate. Those are things he’s working really hard on. But at the moment, we need to give chances to players who have been consistently performing well,” Hensson explained
The coach further went on to praise Sahibzada Farhan, the right-handed batsman whose sensational form helped Pakistan secure a victory in their recent T20 International (T20I) series against Bangladesh and West Indies. Out of the last six games Farhan played for his country, he won Player of the Match awards for three for them.
In his remarks, Henson also suggested that a player like Babar should try to improve his form by playing across different international T20 tournaments. He further suggested that Babar try competing in the Big Bash League (BBL), a professional T20 cricket tournament held in Australia, to work on his game against spin.
A player like Babar has an opportunity to play in the BBL and show he’s improving in those areas in T20S. He’s too good a player not to consider,” Henson concluded.
Reports by multiple news agencies further suggest that Rizwan’s spot in the T20 squad had been taken by Mohammad Haris in the T20I line-up in light of the former’s poor performance in the most recent edition of Pakistan’s premier T20 tournament, also known as the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
Babar’s T20 records
Babar last played a T20I in December 2024. In PSL 2025, he scored 288 runs in ten innings for Peshawar Zalmi. It included knocks of 56, 53 and 94, but his overall strike rate was 128.57, which, as per cricketing experts, is not an ideal statistic for any opener in this format of the game
Notable additions to Pakistan’s squad
One of Pakistan’s emerging left-arm bowlers, Shaheen Afridi, who had also found himself out of favour in T20 cricket of late, retained his place for the tri-series and the Asia Cup. Wristspinners Abrar Ahmed and Sufiyan Muqeem have also secured spots in Pakistan’s squad. They are joined by Salman Mirza, who was Pakistan’s leading wicket-taker with eight wickets in the recent away T20I series against Bangladesh.
Pakistan squad for the UAE tri-series and Asia Cup
Salman Agha (capt), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqe