Babar Azam and Salman Ali Agha - (Source: AFP)
Pakistan cricket is undergoing a complete overhaul, and the PCB is busy making key changes. The Axe has fallen on both the players and the management for the recent underwhelming performances. In the latest events, the PCB is planning another significant change, which is set to impact the careers of Babar Azam and Salman Ali Agha.
The Men in Green don’t have any cricket scheduled in July, which is why the Mohsin Naqvi-led board is actively making significant changes to the system. Recently, the PCB members held a press conference, where Aaqib Javed, Pakistan’s director of cricket, talked about upcoming changes.
Pakistan To Have Seperate Teams for Tests and T20Is
In the latest events, speaking to Geo News, Aqib Javed made a strong revelation and stated that Pakistan should have a separate team for Tests and T20Is with immediate effect.
"The Test and T20 squads should be separated right away, as both formats require different setups and cannot operate side by side," remarked Aaqib Javed.
For the longest time, several players played all three formats for Pakistan or at max, two. But now, it seems that the PCB has decided it is high time they pick format-specific players. The Mohsin Naqvi-led board already have different coaches for different formats, but it was not the case for the players.
Babar Azam, Salman Ali Agha To Be Massively Impact
With the new change, Pakistan’s problems like low intent and low strike-rate will be resolved, because PCB will rope in the aggressive players for T20Is and the ones with temperament for red-ball cricket. However, the latest move is a big blow for Babar Azam and Salman Ali Agha, who are two of the few Pakistan players who play both Tests and T20Is.
Salman Ali Agha is Pakistan’s T20I captain, but also a key member of the Test team. Babar Azam, the right-handed batter, is an active player in Tests and was recently part of the T20 World Cup 2026. Now, Babar had a great PSL recently and hoped that it would be enough for him to be a part of the T20I set-up.
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Although the latest move has ruined his hard work, Babar Azam is most likely to lose his T20I setup as the PCB sees him as a red-ball specialist. Same for Salman Agha, the T20I captain might be reserved for Tests.
Pakistan Players Who Might Be Impacted By PCB’s Decision
Other than Babar Azam and Salman Ali Agha, Abrar Ahmed is also a player who is actively part of all three formats. It seems that Abrar might have to give up his Test spot because of Noman Ali and Sajid Khan already forming a formidable duo.
Shaheen Afridi is another star set to be heavily impacted by this new thought. It feels that the imminent action is already in place because recently, the PCB called up 22 players for the West Indies training camp, which excluded Shaheen Afridi, hinting that his Test career might be all but over.
Pakistan's 22 red-ball camp players
Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Fazal, Abrar Ahmed, Ali Usman, Amad Butt, Azan Awais, Babar Azam, Imam ul Haq, Khurram Shehzad, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Muhammad Awais Zafar, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori, Obaid Shah, Sajid Khan, Salman Ali Agha, Saqib Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shahnawaz Dahani, Shahzad Gul, Shan Masood
Notably, it is worth mentioning that Aaqib Javed hasn't specified whether few players will continue to feature across the two contrasting formats or not.
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