Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has said that Pakistan's decision to drop ace batter Babar Azam after being 0-1 down in a Test series is surprising and stupid. According to reports, the newly-appointed selection committee recommended that Babar, who is going through a rough patch, should be dropped or rather kept out of the national set-up for a while.

The Pakistan Cricket Board on Sunday, October 13 released the squad for the remaining two Tests against England and as reported, Babar didn't feature in it. The decision hasn't gone down well with most experts with Vaughan criticising it as well.

The selection panel felt that some time out of the national team would do Babar good, who hasn't scored a half-century in Tests for over a year now.

"So Pakistan haven’t won in a while .. Go 1 nil down in the series and decide to drop the best player @babarazam258," Vaughan tweeted on Sunday.

After Pakistan's innings defeat to England last week, the selection panel met on Saturday, October 12 and while a few people wanted to keep Babar in the squad, most of them were against him retaining a spot.

It needs to be seen if Babar makes himself available for Faisalabad for the upcoming Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Pakistan's domestic first-class competition. He hasn't featured in the tournament over the past five years.

The criticism around Babar's form has increased with every failure in the longest format. His last five Test innings read 22, 31, 11, 30 and 5. His last big knock was a 161-run innings against New Zealand in Karachi in December 2022.

Babar appeared out of sorts against England, on a flat wicket, scoring 35 runs across two innings, beaten on the inside edge in the first innings and the outside in the second.

Pakistan play the second Test from October 15 in Multan and it needs to be seen who replaces Babar at No. 4 in the batting lineup. 22-year-old Mohammad Huraira might be handed a debut.

Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from Cricket, Sports and around the world.