Why Pakistan dropped Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi for Sri Lanka T20Is weeks before T20 World Cup

The Sri Lanka T20Is will be played from January 7 to January 11, exactly a month before Pakistan open their T20 World Cup campaign

The selectors at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) took a bold call by dropping several star players, including Babar Azam and Shaheen Afridi, for the upcoming T20I series against Sri Lanka, which will be their final assignment before the start of the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Shaheen Shah Afridi and Babar Azam were not picked for the Sri Lanka T20Is(AP)

With Pakistan scheduled to play all their World Cup matches in Sri Lanka, the three-match series against the Islanders was expected to serve as an ideal warm-up for the ICC tournament, a title Pakistan have failed to reclaim since their maiden triumph in 2009. The T20Is will be played from January 7 to January 11, exactly a month before Pakistan open their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands on February 10.

PCB opted to leave out several high-profile names, including Babar, Shaheen, Mohammed Rizwan and Haris Rauf. In their absence, uncapped batter Khawaja Nafay earned a call-up following a successful stint in the most recent Abu Dhabi T10, where he scored 178 runs at a strike rate of 243.83.

The primary reason behind the absence of Babar, Shaheen, Rizwan and Rauf, along with Hasan Ali and Shadab Khan, is their participation in the ongoing Big Bash League (BBL). Although PCB were initially reluctant to grant No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for the Australia-based franchise league due to the Sri Lanka tour, they eventually gave the green light in October. The BBL 2025/26 season, which began on December 14 and concludes on January 25, clashes entirely with the Sri Lanka series, ruling out most of the star players. Shadab, however, is expected to return and rejoin the Pakistan camp in time for the T20Is.

Meanwhile, Fakhar Zaman and Naseem Shah are currently featuring in the ongoing ILT20, which concludes on January 4, just three days before the first T20I in Sri Lanka.

While the Sri Lanka series would have been a perfect tune-up ahead of the T20 World Cup, Pakistan are likely to get another opportunity to assemble their full-strength squad before the global event. They are reportedly scheduled to face Australia in late January, and PCB could potentially recall the BBL-contracted players early to ensure adequate preparation for the tournament.