Former cricketer Basit Ali has questioned the inclusion of Babar Azam in Pakistan’s squads for South Africa tour and star pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi being dropped from the Test fold. Pakistan unveiled its squads for the multi-format tour of South Africa which will kick off on December 10 in Durban. A couple of surprises came along with the decision as Babar returned to the Test side after being dropped from the second and third Tests against England. While Shaheen, who was also dropped alongside the former Pakistan skipper, still remains sidelined from the red-ball cricket. Basit criticised the selection committee’s decision to include Babar and dropping Shaheen from the Test side.
According to Basit, Shaheen was dropped from the side due to the incident that took place during Pakistan’s first Test against Bangladesh. A video went viral in which Shaheen was seen removing skipper Shan Masood‘s hand from his shoulder during a team huddle on the field.
“Shaheen Afridi was asked to bowl on dead pitches, and he couldn’t perform so what about Naseem Shah‘s performance? In the ODI series that Pakistan won against Australia, what did Naseem Shah do? I will tell you why Shaheen was removed. You must remember a video where Shan put a hand on Shaheen’s shoulder, and he removed it,” Basit said on his YouTube channel.
Basit even raised questions about the decision to bring Babar back to the Test fold. The 53-year-old asked if Babar’s form since the England Test was enough to mark his comeback in the red-ball side.
“How many domestic matches Babar has played since being removed from the Test team? When Babar was dropped from the Test team, on what performance did he return to the team? He is a good player, but did his form improve after being dropped from that series?” Basit remarked.
Since being dropped from the Test side, Babar toured with Pakistan to Australia and returned with mediocre performances. In the three ODIs, he had 80 runs to his name, and in the T20Is, his form took a further slump with 47 runs in three matches, averaging 15.67.
Pakistan squads for the South Africa tour:
T20I: Mohammad Rizwan (captain & wk), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Jahandad Khan, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Omair Bin Yousuf, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufyan Moqim, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan (wk)
ODI: Mohammad Rizwan (captain & wk), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufyan Moqim, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan (wk)
Test: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Haseebullah (wk), Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub and Salman Ali Agha.