Babar Azam

Pakistan captain Babar Azam admitted he was blindsided by the decision to tear up his squad ahead of this week's final cricket test against England, saying the drastic cull was "news to me." Babar learned of the wholesale changes only after an official statement by the Pakistan Cricket Board, he said on Tuesday, the day before the third test at Edgbaston. "It was news to me," Babar said in Urdu. "I found out after. "The PCB decided it, so they will be able to explain better. The PCB's decision must have been taken after some thought process. It's better if you ask them why." Heavy defeats at Leeds and Lord's were met with sweeping changes by the PCB, who sent seven players home and removed head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and his assistant Umar Gul. The replacements summoned included five with no test experience, while white-ball coach Mike Hesson and Ashley Noffke were drafted to take charge at Edgbaston. Babar framed the remarkable overhaul as a fresh chance for the players "to showca

Pakistan captain Babar Azam was ruled out of the first test against England starting on Wednesday because of a hand injury. Babar was struck on the middle finger of his right hand while batting against the West Indies this month, and hit again in a warmup game last week in Beckenham. "Pakistan captain Babar Azam is unavailable for the first test match," Pakistan coach Sarfaraz Ahmed said on Tuesday. "Salman Agha will be the captain for the first test." Ahmed said the finger was not broken and he hoped the pain will reduce so Babar could play in the second test at Lord's starting on Aug. 27. But his absence was a blow to Pakistan. Babar had just been reappointed captain and led the scoring in the West Indies. Agha will captain the test team for the first time. He's the skipper of the Twenty20 side. Shan Masood, whom Babar replaced as captain, was recovered from his own broken finger during the first test in the West Indies. He missed the second test and warmup game but he'll retur

Pakistan captain Babar Azam was denied his first Test century in four years as West Indies fought back in the second and final cricket Test on Tuesday. Babar, who last scored a Test century in December 2022 against New Zealand at Karachi, was run out for 88 by Brandon King's stunning direct throw from short cover before Pakistan's middle order collapsed and reached 333-6 at lunch on Day 3. Pakistan still trails by 11 runs with Abdullah Shafique holding the fort at 132 not out and tailender Sajid Khan unbeaten on 16. King picked up a lower back injury and had to be stretchered off after he fell awkwardly as his sharp throw ran out Babar at the striker's end when Shafique refused to go for a tight single and Babar couldn't recover his ground after running halfway to the wicket. West Indies dried up runs through some disciplined bowling from Jomel Warrican and Jayden Seales after Pakistan resumed at 266-2. Babar and Shafique, who rotated strike well on Day 2, stretched their partners

Shan Masood's removal was driven by poor results, but Pakistan's latest leadership reset shows a deeper problem, i.e., frequent changes at the top without sustained structural reform

Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi will lead the side in Bangladesh as Pakistan begin preparations for the next ODI cycle

Farhan broke Virat Kohli's record of 319 runs, which he set during the 2014 T20 World Cup

Pakistan is set to drop senior players Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi from their next T20 World Cup match against Namibia after the duo's failure to come good in the high-stakes game against India in Colombo, a reliable source in the team management told PTI on Monday. The source said that Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Mohsin Naqvi conveyed his displeasure over the team's performance in the 61-run loss to India to team manager Naved Akram Cheema. "The Chairman left the match early at the Premadasa stadium as it became obvious Pakistan were going to face another defeat to India," the source said. He said Naqvi, through a senior PCB official, also conveyed to the manager that such performances in matches that matter were not understandable or acceptable. The source said head coach Mike Hesson also spoke to the players in the dressing room and told them that they had not played to their full potential. "Late night the management think tank decided enough was enough and it was t

With this ruling, Babar received his first demerit point in the ongoing 24-month cycle, a system designed to monitor player behaviour over time.

Coming in during a crucial middle-order phase, Babar Azam looked out of touch and eventually managed only 23 runs from 48 deliveries.

PCB central contracts 2025-26: Babar Azam, Mohammed Rizwan downgraded to Category B, no player in Category A, 12 new faces added to 30-player pool.

India on Friday blocked Instagram accounts of leading current and former Pakistani cricketers including Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Wasim Akram, intensifying its digital crackdown on influential personalities across the border in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack. The list of restricted accounts also includes Test captain Shan Masood, pacers Hasan Ali and Naseem Shah, batter Imam-ul-Haq, all rounder Shadab Khan and former stars Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi. Additionally, the account of Pakistan's former Prime Minister and cricket captain Imran Khan is also now inaccessible in India. Users attempting to access their Instagram page from India are met with the message: "Account not available in India. This is because we complied with a legal request to restrict this content." "We received a legal request to restrict this content. We reviewed it against our policies and conducted a legal and human rights assessment. After the review, we restricted access to the content

Hasan's 44-ball century broke the previous record for Pakistan, held by Babar Azam, who scored a century in 49 balls against South Africa in 2021.

Pandya took two wickets for 31 runs to stop Pakistan on a modest total of 241 runs in Dubai

Pakistan's star batter Babar Azam was conspicuous by his absence from the team's training and there was no clarity on his availability for the Champions Trophy clash against India here on Sunday even as the country's cricket board chief Mohsin Naqvi urged the side to win "at any cost". Speculation is rife that he may be not be considered for the match after he was not seen at the practice session on Saturday evening. The practice was attended by PCB chief Naqvi and Azam was the only player who chose to take the day off. Azam copped a lot of criticism for a 94-ball 64 in the 60-run loss to New zealand in the opening match. He was lambasted for failing to accelerate while the asking rate crept up in the chase of 320 runs in Karachi. Interim head coach Aqib Javed, who addressed the media after practice, did not give any specific reason for Azam's absence, saying that the former captain chose to rest. Last night, Naqvi met the Pakistan cricket team at the Dubai International Cricket ..

With both teams in top form recently, fans are in for a thrilling encounter. India swept England 3-0 at home, while Pakistan clinched ODI series victories over Australia and South Africa.

Rizwan confirmed that Babar is comfortable with his role as an opener and will continue to open the batting in the Champions Trophy.

Ponting believes Babar and Rizwan will be key for Pakistan in the absence of Saim Ayub

Hosts Pakistan are the last of the eight participating teams to announce their Champions Trophy squad

All-rounder Sikandar Raza inspired Zimbabwe to a stunning 80-run win on the DLS method in the rain-affected first one-day international against a new-look Pakistan white-ball team on Sunday. Raza made a crucial 39 runs and lifted Zimbabwe from a precarious 125-7 to 205 all out by sharing a 62-run eighth wicket stand with No. 9 batter Richard Ngarava, who top-scored with 48. Under overcast conditions, Raza (2-7) picked up two wickets in one over as Pakistan limped to 60-6 in 21 overs before it rained and denied further play as Zimbabwe took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Pakistan's second-string new ball bowlers debutant Aamer Jamal and Mohammad Hasnain couldn't make an impact on Zimbabwe's openers after the visitors had rested frontline pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah for the white-ball series in Zimbabwe. Pakistan also rested its ace batter Babar Azam for the first time in an ODI since 2019 as it experimented with its bench strength ahead of next year's Champio

Premier batter Babar Azam had lost his interest in captaining the national white ball teams after a critical report submitted by the limited overs head coach Gary Kirsten to the Pakistan Cricket Board. In discussions with insiders in the cricket board and those close to the Pakistan team, it was apparent that Babar had lost his mojo after the T20 World Cup in July in which the team fared poorly under his captaincy. "Babar was not happy with the observations and recommendations of Kirsten and even assistant coach, Azhar Mahmood and felt he was solely being blamed for the disappointing performances,"one insider said. "He had indicated to the cricket board after some parts of Kirsten's report became public that he was not interested in remaining captain." The insider said Babar had complained to some board officials, who had worked a lot with him that it was unfortunate the PCB didn't take his past performances and results into their consideration nor showed the required confidence an