Babar Azam's brother breaks silence on star batter's ouster from Pakistan's T20I team

PCB's selection committee made a shocking decision to drop the country's star cricketer Babar Azam from Pakistan's T20I squad against New Zealand. It was a huge decision given that Babar has been one of the most consistent batters in the format across the world.

Babar Azam's ouster raised a lot of eyebrows not only in the cricketing world but from his family as well. After he was dropped, Babar's younger brother Safeer Azam came out in his support and reminded everyone of the star cricketer's achievements in the format.

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Safeer Azam's post after Babar Azam's omission from T20I team

Safeer Azam took to Instagram and posted a story in support of his elder brother Babar Azam. He reminded the viewers and the selectors of Babar's prowess in the format as he was the part of ICC T20I Team of the Year last year.

Safeer also posted a picture of the cap that Babar received for being a part of the ICC T20I team of the Year 2024. Babar was the only Pakistan player to be selected in the ICC T20I team of the year 2024.

Babar Azam's brother Safeer Azam on Instagram after he's dropped from the T20I team. pic.twitter.com/O9DqhNxIwS

— M (@anngrypakiistan) March 4, 2025

Safeer Azam is himself a professional cricketer from Lahore, Punjab. He also has a huge no. of followers on Instagram and has often been by his brother's side during the difficult times.

The ICC T20I team of the Year 2024 had four Indian players, the most for any country. Rohit Sharma was appointed the team's captain as he led India to the T20 World Cup title last year. The other Indian players in this team are Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah, and Arshdeep Singh.

Babar Azam, and Mohammad Rizwan dropped from the T20I team

Babar Azam was dropped from Pakistan's T20I team for the tour of New Zealand alongside Mohammad Rizwan, who was also the team's captain. With both Babar and Rizwan dropped from T20Is, Salman Ali Agha was appointed the team's captain.

Pakistan are looking to revamp their side after a horror show in white-ball cricket recently. They were unable to qualify for the semi-finals in the ongoing Champions Trophy which is the first ICC tournament in Pakistan after 29 years.

Earlier, Pakistan failed to qualify for the Super Eight stage of the T20 World Cup 2024. After that tournament, Mohammad Rizwan had replaced Babar Azam as the team's new captain. However, the move didn't seem to turn around the team's fortunes as Pakistan lost all the four completed T20Is under Rizwan.

Pakistan looking to rebrand their style in T20Is

The omission of Babar and Rizwan clearly indicates that Pakistan are looking to change their style of play in T20I cricket. Both these batters were highly consistent in the format but their strike rates were always in question and also affected the team's results.

Babar Azam has terrific T20I numbers with 4223 runs in 128 matches at an average of 39.83 with 3 hundreds and 36 fifties. However, his strike rate of 129.22 doesn't quite help his team's perspective in modern-day cricket which asks for a more aggressive brand of cricket.

Pakistan will play a five-match T20I series in New Zealand from March 16 at Christchurch. It will be followed by a three-match ODI series. The tour will conclude on April 5, when the final ODI will be played at Mount Maunganui.