Pakistan has made some bold decisions for the second Test against England. Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Naseem Shah—three key players—will be benched. Babar and Afridi are considered the backbone of Pakistan’s line-up, and dropping both star players at once is being seen as quite shocking. Meanwhile, Fakhar Zaman is also disappointed with the PCB’s decision.
Fakhar Zaman criticized PCB for dropping Babar Azam
On October 13, Fakhar Zaman criticized Pakistan Cricket Board for dropping Babar Azam in a tweet on his X account. In his tweet, he referenced Virat Kohli as an example, highlighting how the BCCI supported him during his poor form from 2020 to 2023, which ultimately led to a remarkable comeback.
“it’s concerning to hear suggestions about dropping Babar Azam. India didn’t bench Virat Kohli during his rough stretch between 2020 and 2023, when he averaged 19.33, 28.21, and 26.50, respectively. If we are considering sidelining our premier batsman, arguably the best Pakistan has ever produced, it could send a deeply negative message across the team.” tweeted Fakhar Zaman.
PCB issued show cause notice to Fakhar Zaman
The PCB has now issued a show-cause notice to Fakhar Zaman for breaching the players’ code of conduct. Fakhar Zaman, being contracted with the PCB, violated the code by speaking against them. He will now have to explain his actions to the board, and the PCB has given him until October 21 to submit his response.
Fakhar Zaman is part of the PCB’s central contract in Category B, which includes a total of six players. Meanwhile, Category A consists of three players—Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Mohammad Rizwan. Fakhar is a key player in Pakistan’s white-ball team, and speaking out against the PCB could bring trouble for him.
Pakistan Cricket in Poor Shape
Pakistan cricket is currently going through a period of turmoil. It feels like they’ve been experiencing a downfall for the past two years. Their performance in the 2023 World Cup was average, and in the 2024 World Cup, they were knocked out after losing to a weak team like the USA. Recently, they lost a home Test series 2-0 to Bangladesh, and in their latest Test match, England defeated them by an innings after scoring 800-plus runs.
In the past year, Pakistan has made several changes, from the captain to the head coach and board officials, but the results have remained the same. After the 2023 World Cup, Babar Azam resigned from captaincy. However, six months later, the PCB removed Shaheen Afridi from the captaincy and reinstated Babar Azam. But under Babar’s leadership, the team’s performance continued to decline, and this October, he once again resigned from the white-ball captaincy.
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Babar Azam is facing criticism for his batting performance. In T20 cricket, his approach feels more like a Test match—slow and cautious—while in Test cricket, he’s struggling to even reach 50 runs. In fact, he hasn’t scored a fifty in his last 18 Test innings, and his last century came back in 2022 against New Zealand.
