Pakistan selector Aaqib Javed has revealed that Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman played through injuries at the T20 World Cup.
Aaqib Javed: Was the players' fitness not being taken care of?
Babar and Fakhar, notably, were not picked for the ongoing ODI series against Bangladesh, with six uncapped players named in the team led by Shaheen Shah Afridi.
During a press conference with Misbah-ul-Haq, Sarfaraz Ahmed and Asad Shafique, who are also part of the men's selection committee, Aaqib explained that both Babar and Fakhar carried injuries that the selectors were unaware of until after the tournament ended. The selectors have requested the PCB for an inquiry into how the two batters sustained respective injuries.
Also read: Life without Babar: Why Pakistan have picked four debutants in XI for Bangladesh ODI
"Some players were not included in this series [against Bangladesh],” he said. “Concerning Babar Azam's injury, when he came back from there (the T20 World Cup), our doctor also examined him. The injury he has is not allowing him to play this series, or the [domestic] National T20 Cup... he wanted to play that but he is injured.
"Fakhar is also injured – on this, we have also requested the cricket board for an inquiry. How can it be that Fakhar is also unfit, that only after the World Cup is over, these two players' injuries have come to us? During the World Cup, when they were playing, was their fitness not being taken care of? Were they in the squad without being fully fit? We are selectors; we should know these things.
"But when you go to a World Cup, whatever health issues or injury issues there are, your head coach, your physio, need to keep an update and we should know these things."
We had decided beforehand to send younger players to Bangladesh: Aaqib Javed
Aaqib was questioned further about why even the media in Sri Lanka were not given any information regarding the injuries, and that the players did not appear unfit.
"Whether it was visible to you or to me, it's not important," he replied. "Where a player gets injured, in practice or a match, how it happens, we don't know.
"But we had already decided beforehand that we would send younger players like Maaz Sadaqat, etc for this series after the T20 World Cup,” the Pakistan selector added. “We had already decided before the World Cup that we would not send a full-strength squad here. We have done this since the Zimbabwe series [in 2024]. Play new players, so you have more options.
"Injuries can happen any time. I don't know how they have happened. But the situation today is Babar Azam is not fit to play. Fakhar Zaman is not fit to play. Another one... Salman Mirza. He is not fit to play. If we had made the [World Cup] semifinal, would they be 'fit to play'? That is the question."
Also read: Why Pakistan dropped Babar Azam for must-win T20 World Cup game against Sri Lanka
Fakhar was named in the XI for all three of Pakistan's Super Eights games, and scored 109 runs at a strike-rate of 187.93, including a quickfire 84 off 42 in a crucial game against Sri Lanka, where he was promoted to open. Babar, meanwhile, played all but one game during the tournament, scoring just 91 runs in six matches at a strike-rate of 112.34.
Follow Wisden for all cricket updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
