Former Pakistan cricketer Ramiz Raja has said that Babar Azam 'sells' cricket for Pakistan and not having him in the team means a wholesome excitement around Pakistan cricket ceases to exist. After the innings and 47 run loss to England in the first Test in Multan, the Pakistan team management made a big decision to drop Babar and pacers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah.

Babar has been in miserable form in red-ball cricket, since January 2023. He scored a brilliant 161 in December 2022 against New Zealand in Karachi but since then, hasn't been able to register even one fifty-plus score.

Babar has averaged under 21 in nine Tests since last year with no fifties in 18 knocks. But the decision to rest him for the second and third Tests against England didn't go down well with Raja.

"It should have been Babar's call whether he wanted time out of the playing XI or not. It was a kneejerk reaction, new selectors in. The general opinion was he needed rest and he was taken out of the squad completely," Raja said while speaking on Sky Sports.

"We need to understand he sells cricket for Pakistan and there is always this debate happening in Pakistan on whether it's going to be another failure for Babar Azam or whether he is going to make a comeback and that keeps things interesting. Right now, I don't see any sellable commodity in this Pakistan team," Raja added.

Babar was dropped on Sunday, while Shaheen and Naseem opted to withdraw from the remaining two Tests against England. This is the first time that the former has been "rested" from the red-ball team in his 54-Test career.

According to a report in PTI, Shaheen and Naseem withdrew themselves from the series on Sunday morning, citing niggles.

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