Babar Azam in for Fakhar Zaman: Key takeaways as Pakistan reveal T20I squad for SA series

Key takeaways from PAK squad [Source: AFP Photo]

Pakistan, on Thursday, announced its white-ball squads for the series against South Africa at home. Quite a. few surprising changes were made, and former captain, Babar Azam, was included in the team after he was dropped from the squad for the Asia Cup 2025. Players who didn’t perform in the Asia Cup were also punished and were put in the reserve side.

As history suggests, Pakistan Cricket loves to surprise their fans, and they certainly did with the team announced for the South Africa series. Here are the 3 major takeaways from the T20I team revealed.

1) Babar back, Fakhar dropped to reserves

Babar Azam was surprisingly dropped from the Asia Cup squad as head coach Mike Hesson wanted the batter to work on his strike rate in the game’s shortest format. However, after just one poor series by the entire Pakistan batting lineup, the selectors pressed the panic button and brought him back in the team.

Interestingly, Fakhar Zaman was dropped and was pushed to the reserve squad for the T20Is.

(Fakhar Zaman in Asia Cup 2025)

• In seven matches in Asia Cup, Fakhar scored 181 runs, but his strike rate was questionable. The southpaw struck at only 120 and failed to deliver the goods. With Fakhar now in the reserves, Babar is likely to slot in at number 3 in T20Is.

2) Another chance for Saim Ayub

There were high expectations with Saim Ayub before the Asia Cup, but the left-handed opening batter had a horrendous tournament as he failed in every single game, and this put a lot of pressure on the middle-order batters to perform.

However, to everyone’s surprise, the batter was picked in the T20I team as he received one more chance to showcase his skills.

(Saim Ayub in Asia Cup)

• Just 37 runs in seven matches with a strike rate of 97 defined Ayub’s Asia Cup 2025 journey. He was lacklustre in his approach and registered four ducks in the tournament.
• However, he is only in the Pakistan T20I squad due to his bowling performances in the tournament. In the Asia Cup, he turned into one of the best wicket-taking bowlers and scalped 8 wickets at an economy of 6.40.

3) Naseem replaces Haris Rauf

Haris Rauf was having a dream Asia Cup 2025 tournament, until he met India in the finals. The Men in Blue were struggling to score runs before Rauf turned the game and handed India the victory as Tilak Varma and Shivam Dube slammed him for 50 runs in 22 balls as India won the Asia Cup finals.

This resulted in Rauf facing PCB’s wrath as he was dropped to the reserve squad. In his place, Pakistan brought back Naseem Shah, who had an exceptional showing in the CPL 2025 season. Unlike Rauf, Naseem has better control over his lines and lengths and will be a handy bowler vs the Proteas.

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