Babar Azam in Pakistan ODI Squad: Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam will not be part of the national team for the upcoming ODI series against Bangladesh. The Pakistan Cricket Board announced a 15 player squad for the tour but Babar’s name was not included. The series will take place in Dhaka and will have three matches scheduled from March 11 to March 15.
This decision has come shortly after Pakistan’s poor performance in the ICC T20 World Cup 2026. The team could not reach the semifinals and many fans were disappointed with the results. Babar also struggled to make a big impact with the bat during the tournament.
In one of the most important matches of the tournament Pakistan had to win against Sri Lanka to stay in the race. But Babar was not even included in the playing XI for that game. After the tournament the selectors decided to make changes to the ODI squad.
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Pakistan Picks New Players
The Pakistan Cricket Board now wants to try a fresh plan in the ODI format. Because of this the selectors have included six new players who have never played an ODI match before.
The new players selected in the squad are Abdul Samad, Maaz Sadaqat, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori, Saad Masood, Sahibzada Farhan and Shamyl Hussain. This is the first time all of them have received a call up to the national ODI team.
Some of these players recently played for the Pakistan Shaheens team. Abdul Samad, Maaz Sadaqat, Saad Masood and Shamyl Hussain were part of the Shaheens squad that played matches against England Lions in Abu Dhabi.
Shaheen Shah Afridi will lead the team for the series. The squad also includes experienced players such as Mohammad Rizwan, Haris Rauf and Salman Ali Agha.
There are also some other big names missing from the squad. Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman have not been selected for the Bangladesh tour. Their absence along with Babar’s has surprised many cricket fans.
Pakistan Looking for a Fresh Start
Pakistan will go into the Bangladesh series after winning their last ODI series against South Africa at home. The team won that series 2-1.
Interestingly Babar Azam played very well in that series and scored a century in one of the matches. Despite that performance he has still been left out of the squad.
Reports also say the Pakistan Cricket Board had planned to fine the players after the team lost a group stage match against India on February 15 in the T20 World Cup. Later the board told the players the fine could be cancelled if Pakistan reached the semifinals. But the team failed to reach that stage so the situation remained tense.
Babar Azam remains one of Pakistan’s most successful players in white ball cricket. He has played 140 ODI matches for the country. During his career he has scored 6501 runs with an impressive average of 53.73. His record also includes 37 half centuries and 20 centuries.
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Pakistan ODI squad for Bangladesh series
Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Hussain Talat, Maaz Sadaqat, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori (wk), Saad Masood, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha and Shamyl Hussain
