Aapke paas ek hi star hai: Saeed Ajmal's unfiltered message to former players in support of Babar Azam

Pakistan's exclusion of star batsman Babar Azam from the T20I squad for the upcoming series against New Zealand has ignited a heated debate within the cricketing community. Former off-spinner Saeed Ajmal has publicly criticized the decision, expressing his disapproval of the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) choice to overlook a key player like Babar. Ajmal has raised concerns about the reasoning behind Babar's omission and has called for transparency in the selection process.

Pakistan’s squad overhaul follows a disastrous Champions Trophy campaign, where they crashed out in the group stage. The selection committee’s decision to sideline Babar and wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan.

Both players, despite their established records, have often been criticized for their strike rates, leading to slow starts in the shortest format.

Ajmal, however, believes the decision to remove Babar is short-sighted and detrimental to Pakistan’s cricketing future. Speaking to Sportstar, he did not hold back in his criticism of how the PCB has handled the matter.

“Aapke paas ek hi toh star hai (You have only one star). If you degrade him also, then how will your cricket run? These are the big issues. Our former cricketers should keep their mouths shut,” Ajmal remarked.

The former spinner emphasized that every cricketer experiences a slump in form and that Babar deserves patience and support. Drawing parallels with legendary cricketers, Ajmal reinforced that no player can consistently perform at their peak.

“As a cricketer, one must realise that bad patches are part of a player’s career. You can’t play cricket the same way all your life. Even if you were Sachin Tendulkar, you couldn’t score 100 runs in every match,” he added.

'Sit down with Babar…'

Pakistan’s T20I record in recent times has been far from impressive, with three series defeats in their last four outings. Their only series win in this period came against Zimbabwe. Moreover, the team suffered a humiliating first-round exit in the previous T20 World Cup, losing to both the USA and India. These setbacks have undoubtedly played a role in the selectors’ decisions, but Ajmal maintains that dropping Babar and Rizwan is not the answer.

“Look, the way you’ve removed them is wrong. It’s not like they are the only ones who haven’t scored while others have. That’s not the case. Ideally, the selectors should sit down with Babar and discuss rest so that he can come back stronger,” Ajmal stated.

He also referenced Virat Kohli, stating that the India batting legend also prefers to pace his innings, rather than going on an all-out aggressive.

“Babar and Rizwan are great players. Their stats are as good as anyone’s, but the only difference is that they don’t bat aggressively, but they still score runs. Our guys have suddenly realised that in international cricket, everyone plays aggressively.

“Come on, what aggression are we talking about? If they are your proven matchwinners, you don’t need aggression. Even legends like Virat often pace their innings slowly before attacking, that’s his style,” said Ajmal.

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