Former Pakistan chief selector lashes out on Babar Azam: ‘He was very stubborn…not ready to accept changes’

With Bangladesh standing on the verge of a first-ever Test series win in Pakistan, the home team have been under scanner for a poor show. This, to add to their humiliating exits from the last two ICC tournaments (ODI World Cup 2023 and 2024 T20 World Cup).

With Babar Azam experiencing a poor streak with the bat, the former Pakistan Test skipper has now been criticized as a ‘stubborn’ skipper by the former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief selector Mohammad Wasim.

Speaking to Cricket Pakistan, Wasim said, “It was painful to make him understand the advantages of changes. He was very stubborn, and I overstepped my limitations to get him on board with certain calls. He was not ready to accept changes.”

Wasim added that the dressing room atmosphere was plagued by certain players, whom he tried to remove in his capacity as chief selector but to no avail. “I will not take names, but four coaches said that a group of players is cancer to the team. If they are part of the squad, Pakistan can’t win. I tried to remove them from the team, but the team management recalled them,” he said.

Furthermore on the team culture, Wasim named players such as Imad Wasim and Azam Khan, who have been part of major tournaments despite suffering from injuries or fitness issues.

“Imad has a knee injury, but he has been hiding it for years. We always speak about Azam Khan’s fitness levels, but Imad is also suffering from the same problem. He was dropped from the side for that same reason, and I also dropped him during my tenure so that he could work on his fitness,” he added.

At Stumps on Day 4 of their second Test in Rawalpindi, Bangladesh need 143 runs with all 10 wickets intact to clean sweep the two-match Test series. If that happens, it will be the 10th Test that Pakistan have gone without winning at home.

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Following their loss after the first Test, PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi had blamed the lack of “talent pool” for national team’s poor outings in the Test cricket.

“The problem is the selection committee has no pool to turn to for high-quality replacement players. Losing to Bangladesh is sad but the selection committee had given the team 17 players,” Naqvi had said.

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