Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Management Committee, Zaka Ashraf, has revealed that Babar Azam, the captain of the Pakistan cricket team, advocated for Shadab Khan’s inclusion in the World Cup squad despite all-rounders’s poor performance in the 2023 Asia Cup.
Zaka explained that Babar expressed a strong desire to have Shadab Khan continue as the vice-captain for the upcoming World Cup.
“It was Babar’s wish that Shadab remains the vice-captain during the World Cup,” Ashraf said. “However, if he doesn’t perform, he will be dropped.”
The revelation came during a comprehensive evaluation of Pakistan’s performance in the 2023 Asia Cup. This evaluation took place at a special meeting held at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore, where PCB Cricket Technical Committee members, Misbah-ul-Haq and Mohammad Hafeez, meticulously pointed out the shortcomings displayed by the players.
“It was important to review the Asia Cup performance,” said Zaka Ashraf. “Mohammad Hafeez and Misbah-ul-Haq have been advising me on essential matters.
Interestingly, both Misbah and Hafeez strongly advocated for significant changes in the squad due to the team’s subpar performance in the Asia Cup. On the other hand, Babar Azam, along with the chief selector, Inzamam-ul-Haq, preferred not to make extensive changes to the squad.
“Both Misbah and Hafeez wanted big changes in the squad because of the team’s Asia Cup performance while our captain, Babar Azam, and the chief selector, Inzamam-ul-Haq, didn’t want to change the squad,” Ashraf revealed.
“We went with the advise of Babar Azam and Inzamam-ul-Haq in the wider interest of the World Cup and the Pakistan cricket team,” he concluded.
Pakistan on Friday named their 15-player squad for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup, which will be held in October and November in India. Consistency and confidence in the current bunch were the keys to the selection as the Inzamam-led national men’s selection committee made only one change – that was also forced – from the squad that played the recent Men’s ODI Asia Cup 2023.
Squad: Babar Azam (C), Shadab Khan (VC), Fakhar Zaman, Imam ul Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Agha Salman, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Shaheen Afridi, Haris Rauf, Hassan Ali, Mohammad Wasim Jr
Travelling reserves: Mohammad Haris (wk), Zaman Khan, Abrar Ahmed
Meanwhile, Hafeez, has officially resigned from his volunteer role within the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Cricket Technical Committee.
Hafeez chose to make this announcement on the social media platform X (previously referred to as Twitter) on Thursday.
