"Stadiums are going to be empty again" - Social media reacts to Babar Azam's exclusion from Pakistan's squad for 2nd and 3rd Tests against England
Pakistan's ace batter Babar Azam has lost his place from the Men in Green's Test team as he was excluded from the squad for the second and third Tests of the side's ongoing three-match home series against England. The 29-year-old's red-ball form had been under the scanner for some time following a string of underwhelming performances.
Babar registered scores of 30 and 5 in the recently concluded Test series opener at Multan. The hosts lost by an innings and 47 runs despite registering an impressive 556-run total in the first innings.
It is worth mentioning that Babar also failed to fire in Pakistan's two-match home Test series against Bangladesh earlier this year, amassing just 64 runs across four innings at an average of 16.00. Bangladesh completed a 2-0 whitewash, claiming their first-ever Test series win over Pakistan.
The former Pakistani skipper has now gone 18 innings without a Test half-century. The right-handed batter last crossed the 50-run mark in the format in December 2022 during his 161-run knock against New Zealand.
Following the announcement of Pakistan's squad for the remaining two fixtures of the England Test series on Sunday (October 13), many fans took to social media to react to Babar being 'rested'. Here are some of the top reactions:
"Our stadiums are going to be empty again !! Prople come to see only Babar !!," was one tweet.
Former Pakistan women's team skipper Javeria Khan also expressed her displeasure over Babar Azam's exclusion, writing:
"We have made a mockery of ourselves in the world of cricket. Systems that don't respect players like Babar Azam should really not have players like him. No athlete can ever perform with an exhausted mindset, leg pulling, social media trials, and pressure to perform all the time. The decision to rest your premier players is taken at the start of the series, not in the middle. Had it been taken before, it would have benefitted the players and communicated a positive msg. Apparently, these four players don't need rest. It is the system that needs to reset its mindset. Very disappointed and sad to see Pakistan cricket going down the hill."
"Speechless!!This is Pakistan,They Never support their players.A Man who is carrying alone this team from last 5 years and become top scorer every year.A little bad patch on your country’s best batsman and no one is supporting him now.But we will support him No Matter What," commented a fan.
"Worst cricket board. Every 2 months , bring new chairman . New players. Literally you guys dropped your best player," chimed in yet another.
Babar Azam had stepped down as Pakistan's white-ball captain earlier this month. This was the second time in 10 months that the batter relinquished captaincy. He had resigned as the skipper across formats after the side's group-stage exit at the 2023 ODI World Cup.
However, he was reinstated as the ODI and T20I skipper ahead of the 2024 T20 World Cup. The move didn't yield positive results for Pakistan as they suffered a group-stage exit at the 2024 T20 World Cup as well, courtesy of their losses to the United States of America (USA) and India.
"It could send a deeply negative message across the team" - Fakhar Zaman not in favor of dropping Babar Azam from Pakistan's Test team
Pakistan's veteran batter Fakhar Zaman believes that the board didn't need to press the panic button and drop Babar Azam from the Test team. He pointed out how Virat Kohli didn't lose his place in the Indian team during his rut.
He opined that dropping Babar, who has been Pakistan's best batter in recent times, would send out a negative message to the dressing room. Fakhar wrote on the microblogging platform X:
"It’s concerning to hear suggestions about dropping Babar Azam. India didn’t bench Virat Kohli during his rough stretch between 2020 and 2023, when he averaged 19.33, 28.21, and 26.50, respectively. If we are considering sidelining our premier batsman, arguably the best Pakistan has ever produced, it could send a deeply negative message across the team. There is still time to avoid pressing the panic button; we should focus on safeguarding our key players rather than undermining them."
Apart from Babar Azam, Pakistan's newly appointed selection committee also didn't pick pacers Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah for the remaining matches against England.
Pakistan's squad for 2nd and 3rd Test: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Haseebullah (wicket-keeper), Kamran Ghulam, Mehran Mumtaz, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Huraira, Mohammad Rizwan (wicket-keeper), Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha and Zahid Mehmood.