Babar Azam dropped from Pakistan Asia Cup T20 squad

Babar had a frustrating tour of the West Indies after with only one decent score, 47, in three ODIs, while missing out on the entire T20 series.

He last played a T20 international in December of 2024, more than half a year ago, despite having a respectable season with Peshawar Zalmi in the PSL.

Pakistan head coach Mike Hesson revealed that Azam has been asked to improve against spin bowling and also to up his strike rate in T20 cricket in order to fight his way back into the team.

"I think it's really harsh to challenge a player on their form on 3 games," he said at a press conference.

"Babar played nicely in the first ODI but missed out on the next two. There's no doubt Babar's been asked to improve in some areas around taking on spin and in terms of his strike rate. Those are things he's working really hard on.

"But at the moment, the players we have have done exceptionally well. Sahibzada Farhan has played six games and won three Player of the Match awards.

"A player like Babar has an opportunity to play in the BBL and show he's improving in those areas in T20s. He's too good a player not to consider."

With the squad selection, Hesson revealed Pakistan are sticking to an aggressive approach at the top of the order, which he believes suits their style of play.

"We were challenged with 3 different surfaces [in three recent T20 series]. In Lahore, the surfaces were flat and the batting excelled.

"We went to Bangladesh where they were incredibly challenging and low scoring games. Our top order sets the game up. All the games we won the top order performed really well.

"The third game in the West Indies, our openers put on 140 [138]. We need that at a run rate that gets us ahead of the game.

"T20 is all about setting the game up and being ahead of the game all the time in case you get yourself out. From a batting point of view we've got a line-up that can continue to do that," he concluded.