PCB announces Asia Cup 2025 squad; Babar Azam & Mohammad Rizwan left out

On Sunday, August 17, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)’s selection committee announced the Pakistan squad for the upcoming tri-series and the Asia Cup 2025, scheduled to be played in the United Arab Emirates.

While the tri-series is scheduled to start on Friday, August 29, involving Afghanistan, Pakistan and the UAE sides at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah, the Asia Cup 2025 will be played from Tuesday, September 9.

Salman Ali Agha will continue to lead Pakistan in both the forthcoming series. Fakhar Zaman, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, and Faheem Ashraf, Saim Ayub, Hasan Nawaz and Mohammad Haris are some of the prominent players who made it to the squad.

Interestingly, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, who last played a T20I in December 2024 against South Africa, have been left out of the squad. Notably, they have been excluded from multiple T20I series since December 2024.

The Asia Cup will begin with Pakistan initiating their campaign against Oman on September 12 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Part of Group A, Pakistan will face arch-rivals India,  Oman and hosts UAE.

Delving into the details of the recent Asia Cup history, Pakistan lost two of their three Super 4 Games in Asia Cup 2023, failing to qualify for the final. Earlier in Asia Cup 2022 campaign, they ended as the runners-up to Sri Lanka.

Nevertheless, Pakistan recently defeated West Indies away from home in a three-match T20I series by 2-1 and would be aiming to continue their good on-field performance. 

Pakistan’s Asia Cup 2025 squad:

Salman Ali Agha (c), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Waseem Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Sufyan Moqim.

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