Former Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal criticized the decision to exclude Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan from the T20I squad for the upcoming series against New Zealand.
While speaking during an interview, Ajmal questioned the exclusion of Babar and Rizwan, terming the decision as poor and unfair.
Before being dropped, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were two top run-scorers for Men in Green in the T20I format. The decision to drop the two premier batters from the shorter format has sparked concerns.
“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,” said Ajmal.
The 47-year-old urged support for Babar Azam, highlighting that every player goes through a bad patch. Saeem Ajmal further stated that even the Indian legend Sachin Tendulkar couldn’t score in each match.
“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 Tendulkar, you couldn’t score 100 in every match,” he explained.
Saeed Ajmal stated that instead of dropping Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam from the squad, the PCB should have discussed their performances with them.
“The way you’ve removed them is wrong. It’s not like they are the only ones who haven’t scored.”
“Ideally, the selectors should sit with Babar and discuss his workload, so he can come back stronger,” said Ajmal.
He downplayed concerns regarding their strike rate, citing the example of Virat Kohli, who plays with the method of building the innings.
He minimized concerns about their strike rate by citing Virat Kohli’s method of building innings.
“Come on, what aggression are we talking about? If they are your proven matchwinners, you don’t need aggression. Even legends like Virat often pace their innings before attacking—that’s his style,” Ajmal concluded.
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