Experienced batsmen Mohammed Rizwan and Babar Azam were left out of Pakistan’s 17-man team announced on Sunday for the Asia Cup and the tri-series in the United Arab Emirates later this month.
The team, which included left-arm bowler Salman Mirza, Mohammed Wasim, and senior fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, was revealed by the PCB on its website.
The Salman Ali Agha-led team will play a tri-series against Afghanistan and the host UAE in Sharjah from August 29 to September 7 in preparation for the Asia Cup, which will begin on September 9 in the UAE in T20 format.
In the eight-team Asia Cup tournament, which will take place from September 9 to 28, bitter rivals India and Pakistan are grouped together with the United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Although Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were once again overlooked, Pakistan’s squad features senior campaigners including pacers Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf, along with reliable batters Fakhar Zaman and Khushdil Shah.
Wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Haris has also retained his place, while the selectors have shown faith in youngsters Hasan Nawaz, Salman Mirza, and Sufyan Moqim.
Babar last featured in a T20I in December 2024. In the 2025 PSL, he accumulated 288 runs from ten innings for Peshawar Zalmi, registering scores of 56, 53 and 94, though his overall strike rate stood at 128.57. More recently, he played in the ODI series against West Indies, where he managed scores of 47, 0 and 9.
Like Babar, Rizwan has been absent from Pakistan’s recent T20I squads, missing both the home and away series against Bangladesh as well as the West Indies tour. In the ODI series against West Indies, he began with a knock of 53 in the opening game but followed it up with scores of 16 and 0.
Pakistan’s performance at the 2023 Asia Cup was subpar. Pakistan lost two of their three Super 4 matches in the ODI-formatted tournament, which prevented them from making it to the final.
Pakistan lost to Sri Lanka in the final in 2022 and finished as runners-up.
Pakistan squad: Salman Ali Agha (c), Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Hussain Talat, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris (wk), Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Waseem Jnr, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Salman Mirza, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufyan Moqim
