Babar Azam And…? Pakistan T20 World Cup Flops Who Face PCB's Wrath In Bangladesh ODIs

Babar Azam was dropped from Pakistan ODI squad [Source: AFP]

In the latest development, Pakistan has announced its ODI squad for the upcoming series against Bangladesh, and in a not-so-surprising decision, the selectors have dropped several players who underperformed in the T20 World Cup 2026. Some of the big names have been left out as a fresh-looked side is picked.

The World Cup was played in the T20 format, but it seems the Pakistan team management decided to punish the non-performers, irrespective of the format, and here are 3 such players who faced PCB’s wrath for their poor performances in T20 World Cup.

1) Babar Azam

In the last ODI series that Pakistan played (vs Sri Lanka), Babar Azam scored a sublime century and broke his century drought in the 50-overs format. However, for not performing in the T20 World Cup, Babar faced PCB’s wrath as the star batter was dropped from his favourite format.

He was demoted to number 4 in the World Cup, and the batter couldn’t do much as he was also sidelined from the last Super 8 match.

(Babar Azam in T20 WC 2026)

• In the four innings where he batted, Babar could only score 91 runs, with a strike rate of just 112. He struggled for runs in the Sri Lankan wickets, and the team paid the price for it.
• He was also demoted in his batting order, and in the game against Namibia, despite being picked in the playing XI, Babar was not sent to bat as Pakistan believed he couldn’t accelerate.
• Also, his ODI numbers in the last year were not promising, as the former skipper only scored 544 runs in 17 ODIs, with a strike rate of just 77.16. These are not promising numbers for someone playing the 50-overs cricket in the modern era.

Also Read: Pakistan Squad For Bangladesh Tour Announced: Babar Azam, Saim Ayub Dropped

2) Saim Ayub

For someone who was picked in the T20 World Cup squad primarily due to his batting skills, Saim Ayub turned out to be an even bigger disappointment than Babar.

While his opening partner, Sahibzada Farhan broke records for fun, Saim failed to deliver as he made a habit of getting dismissed early, thus, putting pressure on the other batters.

(Saim Ayub in T20 WC 2026)

• Saim Ayub scored even fewer runs than Babar Azam despite playing more innings. He looked less threatening with the bat as the opposition bowlers found it hard to choke him.
• The southpaw had a pattern of getting dismissed by playing rash shots, and this led to the selectors taking a bold call by dropping him.
• Being a batter, he had a better T20 World Cup with the ball, and while this was a good sign, it also underlines the fact that Saim failed in the department for which he was picked (batting).

3) Mohammad Nawaz

Mohammad Nawaz was Pakistan’s best T20I bowler in 2025, but a poor T20 World Cup cost him his place in the ODI setup. With the ball he failed to pick wickets, and with the bat, he found ways to be dismissed.

With the bat, he scored just 15 runs, with an average of 3, and with the ball, the left-arm spinner scalped 7 wickets in as many matches as the selectors took the call to drop him from the ODI squad.

In key situations, Nawaz couldn’t step up for Pakistan, and hence, he was sidelined from the upcoming ODI series.

Conclusion

Several big players were dropped from Pakistan’s ODI series against Bangladesh, but none of them were bigger than Babar, Nawaz, and Saim Ayub. As a matter of fact, the decision to omit these players from the team was justified as they had failed in the World Cup, and were largely unimpressive in the ODIs as well.

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