Pakistan veterans Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan & Shaheen Afridi to face permanent axing from T20Is

In an interesting piece of news, Pakistan veteran cricketers Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, and Shaheen Afridi are not expected to get any role in the team’s upcoming T20I series against the West Indies and Bangladesh.

The Pakistani selectors comprising Aaqib Javed, Aleem Dar, Azhar Ali, and Asad Shafiq will likely announce the T20I squad for the above-mentioned series next week, scheduled to be played in July and August.

According to various reports in Pakistan, the selectors and head coach Mike Hesson have already informed the non-selection news to the trio. Instead, the veterans were informed to focus more on the ICC World Test Championship and One-Day Cricket.

Notably, the Pakistan national team is all set to tour the Caribbean Islands in the last week of July 2025 for the three-match T20I series and three ODIs. Later, they will fly to Bangladesh for the three-match T20I series in August 2025.

A source close to a national selection panel said that the selectors and Hesson wanted to give a proper run to the new young players in the T20I squad in the series ahead.

“The idea is that if things go south then the selectors can always go back to Babar, Rizwan and Shaheen.”

To make things more interesting, the veteran seamer Shaheen Afridi most recently led his franchise, Lahore Qalandars, to its third Pakistan Super League title win in five years.

On the other hand, Babar Azam is set to ply his trade in the Big Bash League for the Sydney Sixers after receiving the NOC to play later in December this year and January next year.

It’s important to note that the veteran trio wasn’t picked in the T20I squad for Pakistan’s last two series against New Zealand and Bangladesh. Moreover, Babar Azam was excluded for T20I series in Australia, Zimbabwe and South Africa as well.

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