“Aapke paas ek hi toh star hai” - Saeed Ajmal slams PCB for dropping Babar Azam from T20Is

Former Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal has come out in support of Babar Azam as he slammed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for dropping Babar Azam from the T20I squad, which is all set to take on New Zealand in a five-match T20I series, starting on Sunday, March 16.

Notably, after the group stage from the recently concluded ICC Champions Trophy 2025, the Pakistan selection committee has come up with a lot of surprises in its T20I and ODI squads for the New Zealand tour.

However, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan’s axing caught the attention of many. It’s important to note that the duo has the strike-rate of less tha 130 in the shortest format of the game.

“Aapke paas ek hi toh star hai (You have only one star). If you degrade him also, then how will your cricket run? These are the big issues. Our former cricketers should keep their mouths shut," Ajmal said while speaking to Sportstar. 

“As a cricketer, one must realise that bad patches are part of a player’s career. You can’t play cricket the same way all your life. Even if you were Sachin Tendulkar, you couldn’t score 100 runs in every match," Ajmal added.

It’s worth noting that Pakistan lost three out of their last four bilateral T20I series. Their sole win came against Zimbabwe. Nevertheless, Ajmal went on to defend both Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in T20Is, terming them as match-winners.

“Look, the way you’ve removed them is wrong. It’s not like they are the only ones who haven’t scored while others have. That’s not the case. Ideally, the selectors should sit down with Babar and discuss rest so that he can come back stronger," Ajmal said.

“Babar and Rizwan are great players. Their stats are as good as anyone’s, but the only difference is that they don’t bat aggressively, but they still score runs. Our guys have suddenly realised that in international cricket, everyone plays aggressively," Ajmal added.

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