Former England cricketer-turned-commentator Kevin Pietersen has taken a dig at Pakistan skipper Babar Azam after Pakistan selectors dropped seven players from their Test squad for the third Test against England. Pietersen has suggested that the toss for the Edgbaston Test should take place the night before as Babar will have a very long interview explaining the changes made in the lineup.
“When a captain is interviewed before every game, the interviewer asks about changes in their team,” Pietersen wrote on X.
“Could be a v v v v long interview for my buddy, Babar!
“Maybe the toss should start the night before??”
Following the defeat at Lord’s, London, PCB sacked their men’s team’s head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umar Gul. Overnight, white-ball head coach Mike Hesson and bowling coach Ashley Noffke were asked to travel to England and take over the red-ball team as well.
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There were several casualties in the aftermath of the Test series loss on England soil, Mohammad Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Agha, Ali Usman, Aamer Jamal, Awais Zafar and Khurram Shahzad were sent home. Some of them weren’t even part of the Lord’s defeat including Agha who captained in the opening Test in the absence of an injured Babar.
Overnight, Saim Ayub was asked to end his Caribbean Premier League (CPL) stint with Jamaica Kingsmen. Also, an injured Abdullah Fazal regain fitness and was recalled too. Five uncapped players who have not played too much first-class cricket — Arafat Minhas, Mohammad Imran Jnr, Saad Baig, Mohammad Imran Randhawa, and Razaullah – were called up.
How Babar fared in Lord’s Test?
After a couple of decent outings on West Indies tour, Babar was part of the two collapses at Lord's. He was dismissed for single-digit scores in both innings. In the second innings, he was hurried on by a short ball from Jofra Archer and got out playing an awkward shot. His Test century drought continues. His last Test century was against New Zealand in December 2022.
No hopes of making it to WTC finalis
Once again, Pakistan are well behind in the race for their maiden World Test Championship (WTC) final appearance. Pakistan are at the bottom of WTC standings with six losses from eight Tests and just 16.67 points.