Saeed Ajmal reacts to Babar's exclusion from Pakistan T20I squad

Former Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal has reacted to the Pakistan cricket’s decision to leave Babar Azam out of the T20I squad for the PAK vs NZ series.

Star batter Babar Azam and wicketkeeping batter Mohammad Rizwan were excluded from the Pakistan T20I squad after the side’s poor outing in the Champions Trophy 2025.

At the time of the squads’ announcement, head coach Aqib Javed said that a young side was selected for the PAK vs NZ T20I series to play aggressive cricket.

Reacting to the two senior players’ exclusion from the Pakistan squad, Saeed Ajmal termed the decision as poor and unfair.

“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,” the former Pakistan spinner said during a recent interview.

Citing example of India’s Sachin Tendulkar, Saeed Ajmal said that players cannot perform in every single game.

Read more: WATCH: Pakistan team lands in New Zealand for white-ball series

“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 Tendulkar, you couldn’t score 100 in every match,” he said.

The former Pakistan spinner lamented the way Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam were dropped from the T20I squad for the PAK vs NZ series.

“The way you’ve removed them is wrong. It’s not like they are the only ones who haven’t scored. Ideally, the selectors should sit with Babar and discuss his workload, so he can come back stronger,” said Ajmal.