By Staff Reporter
LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday announced a 17-member squad for the upcoming T20I tri-series in the United Arab Emirates and the Asia Cup 2025, dropping star batter Babar Azam and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan in a major shake-up aimed at injecting fresh momentum into the team’s white-ball setup.
All-rounder Salman Ali Agha has been retained as captain of the squad, which blends senior figures like Fakhar Zaman, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf with emerging talents such as Saim Ayub, Khushdil Shah and Hussain Talat. The lineup also includes Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jr, Mohammad Haris, Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Mirza and Sufyan Moqim.
The tri-series, involving Pakistan, Afghanistan and hosts UAE, will be held in Sharjah from August 29 to September 7, serving as a tune-up for the Asia Cup. Pakistan open against Afghanistan on August 29, face UAE on August 30, meet Afghanistan again on September 2, take on UAE once more on September 4, and contest the final on September 7 if they qualify.
The Asia Cup, running from September 9 to 28 in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, features eight teams divided into two groups. Pakistan are in Group A alongside India, Oman and UAE, with fixtures against Oman on September 12, India on September 14 and UAE on September 17. The top two from each group advance to the Super Four stage from September 20 to 26, culminating in the final on September 28.
“This is the same group that is playing, hopefully these players who are playing will do well in the future too,” PCB’s Director High Performance Aqib Javed said during the press conference. “There is continuity in the players from the three series. Our focus is on winning at the moment and continuity for that, the team is playing well in T20I.”
On Salman Mirza’s inclusion in the team, the former cricketer credited his performance in Bangladesh. Mirza, a left-arm pacer, claimed seven wickets across three T20Is in the recent series there, finishing as the leading wicket-taker with an economy rate of 5.21. “The player who performs will play, he should play,” Javed said.
Sahibzada Farhan has made a comeback in the team. Farhan, a wicketkeeper-batter, earned his recall after strong showings in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2025, where he notched multiple Man-of-the-Match awards and set a world record with four T20 centuries in four months. Ayub, meanwhile, has shown marked improvement in recent outings, including a standout all-round display in the T20I series against the West Indies last month, where he scored 130 runs at a strike rate of 142.85 and took key wickets.
On the exclusion of star player Babar Azam and ODI captain Mohammad Rizwan, Javed said the board cannot say that we will never consider Babar and Rizwan. “The current players have been given a chance, Babar and Rizwan have a chance to come back,” he added. “The seniors now have a chance to play in the Big Bash, only those who perform well will be included in the team.”
Pakistan’s white-ball head coach Mike Hesson, while reflecting on Babar’s performance in the recent West Indies series, said that the star player played well in the first match. Babar managed 56 runs across the three T20Is, with a top score of 47 in the opener, as Pakistan clinched a 2-1 victory. “It is a tough decision to judge a player’s form based on three matches. He [Babar] has been asked to improve in some areas,” Hesson said. “If Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan play like the others,they will definitely play T20Is. No one has a problem with them. However, we have good options at the moment.”
The decision has sparked widespread debate. Babar, the second-highest run-scorer in T20I history with 4,223 runs, and Rizwan, with 3,414, have been pillars of Pakistan’s batting lineup, but critics have pointed to their strike rates—Babar’s at 129.83 and Rizwan’s at similar levels—as ill-suited to modern T20 demands.
The overhaul comes amid Pakistan’s push for consistency following a mixed run in T20Is. The team won six of their last nine matches, including the West Indies series, but losses highlighted batting vulnerabilities against spin, a concern in UAE conditions. Afghanistan, semifinalists in the previous T20 World Cup, loom as a tough tri-series opponent, particularly in Sharjah’s spin-friendly pitches
Pakistan squad: Salman Ali Agha (captain), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wicket-keeper), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Waseem Jr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Sufyan Moqim. (With inputs from PCB, ESPNcricinfo, Cricbuzz, Express Tribune, Geo.tv and posts on X)
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