Reports: Babar Azam not happy with Pakistan's T20 World Cup squad

Pakistan, on Monday, announced the 15-man strong squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup. However, the captain of the side, Babar Azam has reportedly expressed his displeasure at the changes that have been made in the squad for the mega event. There were few changes in the side that didn’t go well with Babar Azam as he is unhappy with the team.

According to sources, the Pakistan skipper was not taken into confidence on the selection of the team for the World Cup. There were considerable tweaks in the squad when compared to what Pakistan has been playing with recently. Few players who haven’t played the shortest format in a long time made it to the squad which Babar hasn’t liked.

According to reports in Geo News, Babar Azam wanted to go with Sharjeel Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Faheem Ashraf, and Usman Qadir in the side. However, as per the sources, he was not heard. Instead, the captain was told to focus on playing the game rather than the selection process. Asif Ali, Khushdil Shah, Azam Khan, and Sohaib Maqsood were thus selected to be a part of the team. This decision is being criticized by the cricketing fraternity and the on-lookers.

It was earlier reported that head coach Misbah-ul-Haq resigned from his post due to conflicts with the board and his reservation over the squad selection. He too seemed to be unhappy with the selection of Azam Khan and had an argument with the board on the same issue. Soon after the squad announcement, Pakistan head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis stepped down from their respective roles ahead of the T20 World Cup.

Fakhar Zaman, Sarfaraz Ahmed left out of Pakistan’s T20 World Cup squad

The middle-order batters Asif Ali and Khushdil Shah were selected in the squad despite not having impressive numbers in the T20 format. The experienced duo of Fakhar Zaman and keeper-batter Sarfaraz Ahmed were thus left out from the team. Pakistan will also play the T20I series against New Zealand and England ahead of the marquee event.

Here is the squad of Pakistan for the T20 World Cup 2021:

Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Asif Ali, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hafeez, Sohaib Maqsood, Azam Khan, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim, Shahdab Khan, Hasan Ali, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Hasnain, Shaheen Afridi.