“He has been asked to improve in some areas”- Mike Hesson on Babar Azam's exclusion from Pakistan Asia Cup 2025 squad

Pakistan named a 17-member squad for the Asia Cup and Sharjah T20I triseries.

Pakistan left out mainstays Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in their announcement of a 17-man team for the Asia Cup in the United Arab Emirates and the triangular T20I series in Sharjah on Sunday. Starting on August 29, the same team will compete in a T20I tri-series between Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates in Sharjah.

With the selectors favoring aggressive batters Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, and Fakhar Zaman, the choice highlighted a change in approach. Since Pakistan's match against South Africa in December 2024, neither Babar nor Rizwan has appeared in a T20 international.

Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson has admitted that while both Babar and Rizwan remain the star batting talents of the team, Babar has been asked to improve his game in some areas.

“There’s no doubt Babar has been asked to improve in some areas, particularly against spin and in terms of his strike rate. Those are aspects I know he’s working very hard on at the moment,” Hesson said during a press conference, as per Geo Super.

Later this year, Babar will play for the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League, which Hesson believes is essential to the batter's recovery.

“A player like Babar also has the opportunity to play in the BBL and showcase improvements in those areas of T20 cricket. He’s simply too good a player for us not to consider,” the coach stressed.

Pakistan has won the T20I series recently against the West Indies, but was defeated by Bangladesh since Hesson took over as head coach. More worryingly, the West Indies recorded their first bilateral ODI series win over Pakistan in 34 years.

While praising the in-form trio of Ayub, Farhan, and Zaman, Hesson reiterated that Babar’s quality cannot be overlooked.

“At the moment, the players we have are performing exceptionally well. But Babar has every chance to return by proving his game has evolved,” Hesson stated.

Pakistan will first play in a triangular T20I series involving Afghanistan and the UAE (Aug. 29–Sept. 7 in Sharjah) before heading into the Asia Cup (Sept. 9–28 in Dubai and Abu Dhabi).

Pakistan's squad for Asia Cup 2025:

Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Haris (WK), Salman Ali Agha (C), Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Faheem Ashraf, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Sufiyan Muqeem, Abrar Ahmed.