In an unexpected turn, Pakistan has announced a 17-member squad for the T20I against Afghanistan and the United Arab Emirates in the upcoming tri-series in the United Arab Emirates, and for the 2025 Asia Cup. The side will be led by Salman Agha, who will captain the squad for both competitions, whilst both Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan miss out.
Fakhar Zaman has made a full recovery from a hamstring injury that has kept him out since early August and is back in the squad. There are also some key bowlers in the squad as well, including Shaheen Shah Afridi who has retained his place despite selection issues, and Lahore Qalandars fast bowler Salman Mirza who was the leading wicket-taker for Pakistan against Bangladesh earlier this year.
Babar Azam has not featured in a T20I for Pakistan since December 2024. Babar Azam is Pakistan’s best batsman and has not captained Pakistan since the 2025 PSL. His scores yielded innings of 56*, 53*, and 94 in the PSL, but Babar’s strike rate was just 128.57 which is average for a T20. Meanwhile, in the recent ODI series against the West Indies, Babar scored 47, 0, and 9, which are really confusing results for the captain of a national team.
Similarly, Rizwan has been absent from the Pakistan T20I player selections, missing home and away series. Rizwan has also had his share of ups and downs in ODIs, scoring 53, 16, and 0 against the West Indies series.
Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson discussed Babar and Rizwan’s absence in the press conference, citing improvement in parts of Babar’s T20 game, ‘Babar has been made aware that he needs to up-rate his strike rate, and he needs to look to hit spin better,’ Hesson said, ‘It’s unrealistic to judge him on 3 matches. He played excellently in the first ODI, but he missed out in the next two. We want him to work hard to prove himself potentially in some of the leagues like the BBL.’ Hesson also singled out Sahibzada Farhan who had won 3 Player of the Match awards in 6 games, noting the quality performances from other players involved in the current team.
There is a healthy mix of players from various T20I series where Hesson has been involved during the summer cricket competition. The coach looks at the 2-1 ODI series loss over in the Caribbean, and the coach likes to maintain an attacking player-heavy batting order that represents how T20 cricket is played at a fast pace.
“We encountered a noticeably different playing surface in Lahore, Bangladesh, and the West Indies,” Hesson said. “And our top order, as we’ve been saying, has been pivotal in our success because we have got off to strong starts and set up the game. It’s important in the T20 game to get ahead in the game. Our batting order is constructed for that.”
Pakistan are looking to improve on a runner-up finish in the last tournament in 2022, while developing a title-winning mentality, which they have never had in this format of the competition. The tri-series starting in the UAE is important preparation for Asia Cup, which begins on September 9.
Pakistan T20I Squad for UAE Tri-Series and 2025 Asia Cup:
Salman Agha (capt), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem
