Former Pakistan captain Basit Ali has made a shocking claim that the side will drop Babar Azam in the next match in the T20 World Cup 2026. Ali claimed to have seen coach Mike Hesson ‘angry’ after Babar’s wicket in Pakistan’s narrow win over the Netherlands.
“I have a feeling that Babar will not play in Pakistan’s next game. The anger I saw on coach Mike Hesson’s face… I don’t think that he will play Babar at no 4 again in the next game,” Basit Ali said on the YouTube show The Game Plan.
“If you call Babar Azam a superstar in ODIs or Tests, I might still agree. But in T20Is? Kahaan se superstar hai? (How is he a superstar?) A batter who drops down from his regular batting position and comes out to bat at no 4, and cannot even tell the management that he’s not a no 4 batter! Doesn’t Babar know this?” he asked.
“Even a club cricketer will tell you that in T20s, Shadab Khan, Usman Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf… they are all better players in the format than Babar! Sahibzada Farhan and Saim Ayub are also better T20 players than Babar. Even Salman Ali Agha has shown that he’s a better player at No 3 than Babar. After what Steve Smith did with Babar Azam in the Big Bash League, people haven’t wisened up! He denied a single just to prevent Babar from getting on strike. His game is not suited (to T20s),” he said.
Babar could only manage 15 off 18 in the 148-run chase against the Dutch in Colombo. It was Faheem Ashraf’s heroics with the bat that turned the game on its head and Pakistan eventually went over the line in the final over. Ashraf hammered an unbeaten 29 off 11 that included three maximums and a couple of boundaries.
The Salman Ali Agha-led side will be up against USA in their next fixture on Tuesday in Colombo.
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