Big decision in selection committee meeting; Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi will be dropped from Pakistan team

Former Pakistan team captain Babar Azam is constantly struggling with poor form. Also, Shaheen Afridi's bowling isn't as effective as it once was. This is the reason behind Pakistan's defeat in both the first Test match against Bangladesh and the current match against England. The PCB is now prepared to take tough measures against these two top players. There are rumours that an important meeting of the selection committee was conducted in Lahore after the team's defeat to England in the first Test. This meeting was also attended by five mentors in along with Chairman Mohsin Naqvi. The decision to keep Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi out of the second Test against England was made during the meeting.

In fact, after losing the first Test, Pakistan team captain Shan Masood had described Babar Azam as the best batsman in Pakistan. At the same time, head coach Jason Gillespie supported Babar Azam, but the selection committee probably disagreed. He believes that Babar cannot do anything special for the team. Babar scored only 35 runs in both innings of the first Test. Since December 2022, he has not scored a half-century in any Test. Because of this, Babar Azam can be dropped from the second Test against England.

The new selection committee has former ICC umpires Aleem Dar, Aaqib Javed, Asad Shafiq, analyst Hasan Cheema, and Azhar Ali in addition to the present captain and coach. Coach Masood and Coach Gillespie were absent during the selection committee meeting on Friday. Some mentors supported him in the meeting for ESPNcricinfo's report, while some talked about dropping him.

Apart from Babar Azam, even Shaheen Afridi is unable to do anything special. Afridi, performing with extremely poor form, took only one wicket in the Test against England. Under such circumstances, along with Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi is also considered a certainty to be dropped.