Former Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja on Tuesday weighed in on the Pakistan selection controversy which saw the Men in Green drop Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah and Sarfaraz Ahmed from the squad for the 2nd Test against England.
“It should have been Babar’s call whether he wanted time out from the playing XI or not. I think it was a knee-jerk reaction, new selectors in, the general opinion was that he needed rest, and he was taken out of the squad completely,” Raja said to Sky Sports Cricket on the sidelines of the Pakistan vs England 2nd Test in Multan.
“Now we need to understand that he sells cricket for Pakistan and this debate that’s happening right now in Pakistan whether there’s going to be another failure for Babar Azam or whether he’s going to make a comeback, and that keeps things interesting. Right now, I don’t see any saleable commodity in the Pakistan team because sponsors are a little wary as well. After all, Pakistan has been on a losing sequence, and there are no real superstars playing in this Test match now,” he added.
“It should’ve been Babar’s call” 👀
Ramiz Raja discusses Babar Azam being dropped from the second Test 🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/5Qsyn6SrJM
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) October 15, 2024
The aforementioned 4 players were excluded from the Pakistan squad after the hosts had lost the 1st Test against England last week.
Babar, who recently resigned from his position as white-ball captain, has been criticized for poor returns with the bat.
The 29-year-old’s last 50 plus score in Tests came 18 innings ago, during the Multan Test against New Zealand back in December 2022.
