No Babar Azam, No Mohammad Rizwan! Aqib Javed backs Pakistan squad: ‘This team can beat India in Asia Cup’ | Cricket News – Times of India

*** head coach Mike Hesso, proper, speaks as Aqib Javed watches throughout a press convention. (AP Photo)

NEW DELHI: Pakistan on Sunday unveiled a daring 17-member squad for the upcoming triangular T20I sequence in Sharjah and the Asia Cup 2025 in the UAE, leaving out seasoned campaigners Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in a significant shift of technique. The squad, led by Salman Ali Agha, displays the selectors’ desire for aggressive batters comparable to Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan and Fakhar Zaman.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!The omission of Babar and Rizwan has dominated headlines, however director excessive-efficiency Aqib Javed insisted Pakistan are greater than succesful of thriving with out their former batting mainstays. Speaking on the squad announcement, Javed struck a defiant tone, declaring: “This team has the ability to beat India in the Asia Cup. Whether you like it or not, the match between India and Pakistan is the biggest in world cricket. Every player knows this.”

With India and Pakistan drawn collectively in Group A, their conflict on September 14 in Dubai is already being billed because the spotlight of the eight-team match. The political backdrop provides additional rigidity, following the Pahalgam terror assault and India’s retaliatory Operation Sindoor. Despite calls from sections of India to boycott the fixture, the stage stays set for one of the game’s fiercest rivalries.Javed expressed confidence in the squad’s stability and readiness: “Our squad can beat any team. Everyone is ready. Everyone knows the situation surrounding the two countries. But we don’t need to put extra pressure on them.”Head coach Mike Hesson, in the meantime, provided perception into Babar Azam’s exclusion, noting that the star batter has been requested to work on key elements of his T20 recreation. “There’s no doubt Babar has been asked to improve in some areas, particularly against spin and in terms of his strike-rate,” Hesson stated. He added that Babar’s upcoming Big Bash League stint with Adelaide Strikers can be essential in proving his evolution as a T20 participant.Pakistan will first check their new-look squad in a triangular T20I sequence involving Afghanistan and the UAE (Aug. 29–Sept. 7 in Sharjah) earlier than heading into the Asia Cup (Sept. 9–28 in Dubai and Abu Dhabi). With Javed backing the younger weapons to ship and the India conflict looming, the stakes couldn’t be increased.

Pakistan’s squad for Asia Cup 2025