Watch: "Mujhe bhi baad mein" — Babar Azam breaks silence on PCB's decision to drop 7 players ahead of 3rd Test vs England

The Pakistan captain, Babar Azam, expressed that he was fully unaware of the board’s overall squad change, in which they replaced seven players from the original squad ahead of their third Test against England, beginning on September 09 at Edgbaston. Babar pointed out that it would be a golden chance for the incoming players. 

Pakistan, on the back of their drawn Test series against West Indies by a 1-1 margin, lost the opening Test of the England series by an innings and 103 runs at Headingley before facing a 194-run defeat during the second red-ball encounter at Lord’s.

"It was news to me too" — Babar Azam denies any role in PCB's nass player cull

Babar admitted that he was blindsided, like everyone on the outside, as it was only after the release of the official statement that he got to know about the changes. The day after their Lord’s Test defeat, the board announced that they had let seven players go from the squad, as well as the head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed and bowling coach Umal Gul.

Watch Babar Azam's press conference here- 

“It was news to me. I found out after. The PCB decided it, so they'll be able to explain better. The PCB's decision must have been taken after some thought process. It's better if you ask them why.” Pakistan's captain Babar said in the pre-match press conference. 

“The series is lost, but we have nothing to lose. We should play freely and believe in ourselves as a team. We've practiced a couple of days and explained things to the new boys. Any young player who comes in is excited, and that excitement is visible. I believe that will be visible in the match, too.” He revealed.

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The veteran also said that despite the chaos, the focus remained fully on the Edgbaston game rather than what could happen once the tour was done. Babar, however, defended the team’s decision.

“We didn't play well in all three facets as a team. And when you don't get results, then you'll get plenty of criticism from outside. But we did what we thought was best at the time. The way we read the pitch and conditions, the XIs we went with were what we thought was best at the time.” He informed in the same press conference.

Rizwan, Imam-ul-Haq and 5 others dropped as PCB overhauls squad for Edgbaston

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) brought their two capped Test players, batters Saim Ayub and Abdullah Fazal, while the uncapped group comprises pace-bowling all-rounders Razaullah Khan and Mohammad Imran, left-arm spinner Arafat Minhas, wicketkeeper Saad Baig, and left-arm pacer Mohammad Imran Junior were also included into the side.

See Also: Why was Sarfaraz Ahmed removed as Pakistan's Test coach? Report reveals shocking reason

They left out their wicketkeeper Rizwan and captain of the first Test, Salman Agha, along with Ali Usman, Khurram Shahzad, Aamir Jamal, Muhammad Awais Zafar, and Imam-ul-Haq.

The biggest issue for Pakistan with the bat in the series was not getting to 200 runs in the four innings. Their biggest aim will be to bring improvement in that aspect and end the series on a high.