Cricket: Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi left out of Pakistan’s T20 squad for West Indies tour after Bangladesh snub?
PCB to omit star Shaheen’s trio for West Indies tour
Pakistan have endured a difficult few years on and off the field, with back-office turmoil and mismanagement leading to poor performances by the team as seen in the last three major ICC events, which we covered with our cricket predictions.
The Shaheens suffered premature ejections from the ODI World Cup in 2023, the T20 World Cup last year, and the ICC Champions Trophy, which they hosted a few months ago but failed to get beyond the group stage.
However, there is reason for optimism lately, as the Green Shirts just completed a three-match T20 series against Bangladesh on home soil and produced excellent performances to whitewash the Tigers 3-0, helping them build momentum for their upcoming tour to the West Indies.
Ahead of the Bangladesh series, the PCB made significant changes to the national team by omitting three of their star players in Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and paceman Shaheen Shah Afridi, which sent shockwaves across the nation.
Having won the series fairly comfortably, reports in the lead-up to the team’s trip to the Caribbean now suggest that the Board, following consultation with head coach Mike Hesson and current captain Salman Ali Agha, are likely to leave out the trio again for the upcoming tour.
While Azam and Rizwan’s omissions were somewhat less surprising, given they were also dropped after losing to South Africa earlier this year, Afridi’s potential exclusion is extremely unexpected when considering how well he performed at the PSL this season.
It is understood that the national selection committee, which includes Aaqib Javed, Aleem Dar, Safaraz Ahmed, Sikandar Bakht and Salman Agha, cited concerns around form, team dynamics and internal behaviour as part of their reason for overlooking the Pakistani trio.
Pakistan-West Indies tour schedule
For Pakistan’s T20 series against Bangladesh, Shadab Khan served as deputy to Agha, while Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah were recalled to the squad. Saim Ayub returned from an injury sustained against the Proteas, and PSL top-scorer Sahibzada Farhan was also summoned.
Pakistan squad vs Bangladesh: Salman Ali Agha (c), Shadab Khan (vc), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub
There is widespread expectation that, given how the Shaeens performed against the Tigers, Hesson and co are likely to remain unchanged when they head to the Americas to face the West Indies next month.
Pakistan and the Windies are set to play three T20 matches at the Central Broward Park & Broward County Stadium in Florida on July 31 and August 2 and 3, before heading south to the Caribbean for three one-day internationals between August 8 and 12.
