Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan continue to be left out as Pakistan name squad for West Indies T20Is

Pakistan's national selectors have once again decided to keep seasoned batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan on the sidelines when it comes to T20I cricket. With the upcoming white-ball tour of West Indies starting on July 31, the selectors have named a very similar squad for the three-match T20I series with the only major changes coming in the bowling department.

Shaheen Afridi, who was left out of the Bangladesh T20Is, returns to the squad while Haris Rauf has recovered fully from the injury that he had sustained during the 2025 MLC season last month. Meanwhile, Hasan Ali is also back in the squad after his impressive stint in the T20 Blast in England. The trio's inclusion adds teeth to Pakistan's bowling attack but it means a strange axing for Salman Mirza who had an efficient outing in Bangladesh. Faheem Ashraf keeps his spot after having a strong all-round show in the series that Pakistan lost 1-2.

The selectors have decided to invest in Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan and Hassan Nawaz as the top order options with Fakhar Zaman being the first-choice opener in the setup. Wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Haris continues to be the no.3 option in the line-up with Khushdil Shah and Hussain Talat being the middle order options alongside Mohammad Nawaz and Ashraf. With the T20 World Cup not too far away, it does seem like head coach Mike Hesson and his think tank don't have Babar and Rizwan in their plans, at least for now.

"Players go through good periods and periods where they're a little bit down in their game," said Hesson about the senior stars after the squads were announced for the West Indies tour.

"It's up to us as coaching staff to try and get our best players on the park and make them better, so when they play for Pakistan, they perform better."

The duo are part of the three-match ODI series against West Indies that will follow the T20Is, showcasing that it is a clear process being followed to pick players that the management feels is better suited for a particular format. Both Babar and Rizwan haven't played in the shortest format for Pakistan since December 2024.

Pakistan's T20I form has been on the downswing since the last 12 months. The recent series defeat in Bangladesh hasn't come as a surprise although they did win the return series at home in June by a 3-0 margin.

In the last ten bilaterial series that Pakistan have played in T20Is, they have only won three - against Zimbabwe, Ireland and Bangladesh. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Hesson and co are trying to revamp the structure of the side with an eye on the future.