Shan Masood Opposed Dropping Babar Azam, While Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah Withdrew to Avoid ‘Embarrassment

Shan Masood Opposed Dropping Babar Azam: Pakistan have dropped former captain Babar Azam and pace ace Shaheen Afridi from the squad for the second and third Tests against England.

After the thrashing in Multan in the first Test, the Pakistan Cricket Board announced the squad for the last two matches on Sunday and Babar and Shaheen were not included in the 16-man squad. Under-fire Shan Masood has been retained as captain.

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"We have decided to rest Babar Azam and a few others," said selector Aaqib Javed in a Pakistan Cricket Board release.

Babar had not scored a fifty in his last 18 Test matches and scored 30 and 5 in the first Test against England.

Pacer Naseem Shah and wicket-keeper batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed have also been rested for the remaining England Test series.

“We are confident that this break from international cricket will help these players regain their fitness, confidence and composure, ensuring they return in top shape for future challenges." They remain some of our finest talents with much more to contribute to Pakistan cricket. We are fully committed to supporting them during this period so they can come back even stronger," Javed added.

Four players in the squad have been replaced by Haseebullah, Mehran Mumtaz, Kamran Ghulam (all uncapped), fast bowler Mohammad Ali and off-spinner Sajid Khan, said the board in a release.

Second and third Tests are to be held in Multan and Rawalpindi respectively Since scoring 161 against New Zealand in Karachi in December 2022, Babar has struggled in red-ball cricket, both at home and abroad.

His highest score since then was 41 against Australia in Melbourne last year.

Babar also had a tough time in the previous home series against Bangladesh, scoring 64 runs in four innings.

It has been a tough year for Babar, who was re-appointed white-ball captain earlier this year. Pakistan won only one series against Ireland in a T20 bilateral series. They got knocked out of the T20 World Cup after losing to the US and their arch-rivals India in the group stage.

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Babar had stepped down from white-ball captaincy earlier this month to focus on his batting.

But he continued to struggle against England on a flat Multan pitch. Three of his teammates – captain Shan Masood, Abdullah Shafique and Salman Ali Agha – scored centuries in the first innings.

After Pakistan lost the first Test, the Pakistan Cricket Board reconstituted its selection committee. The new committee includes Javed, former ICC umpire Aleem Dar, former captain Azhar Ali and analyst Hasan Cheema.

Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Haseebullah, Kamran Ghulam, Mehran Mumtaz, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Zahid Mehmood.

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