'Babar Azam was willing to play but...': Azhar Mahmood's stunning revelation on batter's exclusion

Pakistan National Cricket Team assistant coach Azhar Mahmood has made a fresh revelation about the exclusion of the superstar batsman Babar Azam from the Test squad for the remainder of the series against the England National Cricket Team.

Shocking things have happened in Pakistan Cricket in the last few days. Firstly, the legendary umpire Aleem Dar was included in the PCB selection panel and then the same committee made the decision to drop four star players from the squad for second and third Tests against the Three Lions.

Babar Azam's Test Exclusion Stuns Cricket World

Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah and Sarfaraz Ahmed were released from the squad, and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), in the official media release, stated that they considered the current form of the players and made the decision to rest the aforementioned cricketers.

The white-ball skipper Babar Azam is currently going through a lean patch as he has gone 18 innings without scoring a fifty in Test cricket.

Meanwhile, star pacer Shaheen Afridi has failed miserably in Test cricket in the last two matches he played against Bangladesh and England, while Naseem Shah has bowled great lines and lengths but has not been lucky enough to get a lot of wickets.

The veteran wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed's case is a little different as he was dropped without being given an opportunity to play the home Tests, with his last match coming in December 2023 against the Australia National Cricket Team.

Babar Azam is not dropped but given rest - Azhar Mahmood

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the second Test against England, Pakistan coach Azhar Mahmood once again clarified that they have not 'dropped' Babar Azam, but 'rested' him.

He acknowledged Babar as the number one batsman of Pakistan and revealed that the batter did not ask for a break and was willing to play the Test matches against England.

However, Azhar Mahmood added that the selection committee felt that Babar Azam needed some rest, which would help him make a good comeback. He elaborated:

"Babar is our number 1 player, there is no question about his technique or ability. If you look at Pakistan’s FTP, there is a lot of cricket coming up, which is why I think the selection committee decided this is a good time to give Babar a rest so that he comes back fresh. After this, we have tours of Australia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa, which are very important.

"Babar Azam is not dropped but given rest. Babar was willing to play the remaining test matches against England, but we felt he needed some rest."

You have to take 20 wickets - Azhar Mahmood

Pakistan faced an embarrassing defeat of an innings and 47 runs in the Test series opener and they would be looking forward to delivering a better performance in the second Test.

The match is set to be played at the Multan Cricket Stadium from October 15 and the same surface as the first match is going to be used for the second game.

Mahmood, meanwhile, said that they have decided to use the same pitch for the second Test because it will give them an opportunity to bag 20 wickets as spinners will come into play. He said:

“You have to take 20 wickets. We thought about how we could do that - this is the reason for using the (same) pitch. Against England, if we go with a spin-dominant attack, we got a chance to take 20 wickets.”

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