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Pakistan supporters have come out in support of the decision to drop former all-format Pakistan captain Babar Azam from the 2025 Asia Cup squad, after his terrible run of form.
The 17-man squad announced by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Sunday also didn’t include Azam and fellow high-profile players Mohammad Rizwan and Naseem Shah.
Azam’s inclusion in future Pakistan teams has been a hot topic of debate over the last few weeks, and it appears that head coach Mike Hesson and the PCB selectors have had enough after a succession of poor performances.
However, Hesson has not ruled out a return for Azam and has left the door wide open.
“There’s no doubt Babar has been asked to improve in some areas, particularly against spin and in terms of his strike rate. Those are aspects I know he’s working very hard on at the moment,” said Hesson.
“Babar Azam has the chance to play in the BBL and prove he’s developing in the key areas required for T20Is. He’s simply too good a player for us not to overlook”.
The 30-year-old batter, who has played 128 T20is, last played for Pakistan in the format in December 2024, where they lost by six wickets to South Africa.
It ended a miserable year for Azam where he scored 738 runs in 23 innings with a strike rate of just 133.21. He also led Pakistan to an embarrassing group stage exit in the T20 World Cup, which included a defeat to minnows the USA.
Pakistan are scheduled to play a tri-series involving the UAE and Afghanistan from August 29 to September 7, ahead of the Asia Cup which is scheduled to be played from September 9 to 28 in the UAE.
What the pundits and fans think about Azam’s snub
Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez. said “Calling them key players would be wrong and unfair. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are not Pakistan cricket’s key players at the moment. Key players are those who win matches for Pakistan.
“If we look at the past year and a half to two years, the players showing consistent performances are Salman Ali Agha, Saim Ayub, and Hasan Nawaz. Why aren’t we talking about them? They are the ones currently winning matches for Pakistan.”
It is clear Babar Azam has a lot of work to do to return himself to former glories, and Pakistan supporters have been forthcoming on the subject of his Asia Cup snub.
“As a batsman, the man can be one of the GOATs still if he realizes that he needs to focus on that and keep to that,” said one Pakistan fan.
Several fans agree that Azam’s mindset is not focussed on his batting.
“Babar is one of the best batsman Pakistan got in last 10-15 years, seeing his performance recently and him not trying harder to get back to form and his reduced hunger for runs and increased hunger for things outside the ground is what made me (not hate but) not like him.
“I want him to succeed, but for that he has to put extra efforts in but he isn’t,” said one.
Another fan responded: “His technique isn’t as much of a problem as his mindset. He has been consistently scoring 50s in ODIs, how can someone with a faulty or bad technique can score 50s that consistently in ODIs.
“Biggest issue is his mindset. He has completely lost the plot and tbh at this point he is probably just given up and is just going with the flow scoring 40s and 50s and that’s it.”
One Pakistan supporter believes he needs treatment to overcome his mental issues.
“I suppose he needs a mental coach or a sports psychologist to get out of the mental block.
“He seems to be playing so well and then he goes to his shell. Being the most hated player in Asia can do that to a player ig. I have never seen a player hated like that in my life.”
Another fan is concerned Azam hasn’t developed enough and has become complacent.
“I am just angry that he has failed to develop as a player and got complacent. Instead of learning and evolving, he got lost in the lights of fame and fortune.
“He never worked on his average hitting ability especially against spin be it advancing or sweeping. As a leader, he surrounded himself with useless players e.g shadab, hassan ali just to feel secure. He hurt our cricket more than he contributed towards it.”
Another doesn’t approve of how cheaply Azam is dismissed.
“What made me hate him is his easy dismissals everytime. I started hating him after seeing his performance in all T20 world cups, Asia Cups and Odi 2023 world cup, Australia away series where he was clueless against inswinger, no good score against Bangladesh and england home series. He is a criminal; he played too many matches without scoring runs and not giving other players chances in his tenure.”
“He’s really a talented player sure, but for 3 years this guy was a walking wicket. We lose games in the first 6 overs of a game and that would be bc of how slow he would score(literally opener in almost all formats), building up the pressure on our middle and lower order.
“He also was given so many chances compared to the rest of the team, where it became almost cult like he did not have any major performances for a couple of years (especially test) and we would pass on players.”
However, Azam has a few supporters, who think he shouldn’t have been dropped.
“Dropping Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, Pakistan’s top T20I run-scorers, may be a mistake as their experience and proven track record could stabilize the batting lineup, despite recent form dips and lower strike rates.
“Their absence risks weakening the team for crucial reasons,” said one.
“Babar carried that useless team on his shoulders all along, a team that never took responsibility or delivered under his captaincy. His T20 form suffered,& captaincy taken away coz of this.
“Now, when he actually needed support, no one stood by him Ngl, Pakistan did him dirty,” said another Azam backer.
Pakistan’s Asia Cup 2025 squad in full:
Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Haris (wk), Salman Agha (C), Hasan Nawaz, Khushdil Shah, Faheem Ashraf, Hussain Talat, Mohammad Nawaz, Abrar Ahmed, Sufiyan Muqeem, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Wasim, Salman Mirza.
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The post What Pakistan fans really think after Asia Cup snub for Babar Azam appeared first on Cricket365.
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