Babar Azam was rested by the national selection committee for the second game against England this has created a huge wave in the cricketing fraternity. Indeed, the batter who leads by example against every major Test team was penalised for his series of sub-par performances – enough to see him restricted from the team by the very newly formed national selection committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Nevertheless, cricketing great Ramiz Raja has termed the selectors’ decision as the “knee-jerk reaction.” For, according to Ramiz, Babar’s removal doesn’t make any logical sense at all. Babar Azam is not only an absolute necessity but a fantastic brand generating a lot of revenue for Pakistan cricket.
Both Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah are also omitted. “There’s nothing ‘sellable’ in that Pakistan lineup for the second Test, which could be a problem on sponsorship marketability grounds,” Ramiz concluded.
Ramiz Raja Slams Pakistan Cricket For Resting 3 Important Players
“I think it was a knee-jerk reaction [by the] new selectors. The general opinion was that he needed rest and he was taken out of the squad completely,” Ramiz said in a chat on Sky Cricket.
“We need to understand that he sells cricket for Pakistan. There’s always this debate that is happening right now in Pakistan – whether there’s going to be another failure for Babar Azam or whether he’s going to make a comeback. And that keeps things interesting,” he added.
“Right now, I don’t see any sellable commodity in this Pakistan team … sponsors are a little wary as well because a) Pakistan have been on the losing sequence and b) There are no real superstars playing in this Test match now.”
Shan Masood On The Absence Of Babar Azam, Naseem Shah & Shaheen Afridi
At the time of toss, the Pakistan skipper Shan Masood also spoke about the absence of three marquee players.
“I think firstly playing a Test match for Pakistan is a huge opportunity for anyone who wants to be a cricketer so we’re all excited and there’s some rejuvenated energy in the camp,” Shan Masood said.
“There’s stuff we can’t control but we can control what we do on the field,” he said on the team selection. We’re very positive about this. We’re happy the spinners have some conditions were we can show we have some decent spinners,” he added.
The day 1 of second Test witnessed a maiden ton for debutant Kamran Ghulam. He came in at number 4 and replaced Babar Azam. His 118 runs knock helped Pakistan post a score of 259 for 5.
