PAK vs ENG: Dropping Babar Azam will get sponsors worried, says Ramiz Raja

Former Pakistan Cricket Board president Ramiz Raja said that dropping Babar Azam will worry the sponsors of Pakistan cricket. Speaking during Day 1 of the 2nd Test, Raja said that Babar is the only saleable commodity in Pakistan cricket.

In Short

• Pakistan are playing England in their 2nd Test
• Ramiz Raja raises concerns after Pakistan dropped Babar Azam
• Raja says that dropping Babar will have the sponsors worried

Former Pakistan Cricket Board chief Ramiz Raja has said that dropping Babar Azam will worry the sponsors. Raja argued that Babar Azam was the only saleable commodity in Pakistan cricket and without him, many might not watch the Test match between Pakistan and England.

Raja's comments came on the morning of Day 1 of the 2nd Test match between the two sides, where Pakistan made wholesale changes to the team. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) dropped star batter Babar Azam for the remaining two Tests against England. Along with him, wicketkeeper batter Sarfaraz Ahmed and fast bowlers Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah have also been released from the squad.

Raja criticised PCB's move to drop the star batter and said that with the slump that Pakistan cricket is in, the sponsors might get spooked by the absence of the former captain.

"I think it should have been Babar's call, whether he wanted time out of playing XI or not. I think it was a knee jerk reaction. New selectors in. The general opinion was that he needed rest and he was taken out of the squad completely. Now we need to understand that this, you know, he sells cricket for Pakistan. And so there's always this debate that is happening right now in Pakistan, whether it's going to be another failure for Babar Azam, whether he's going to make a comeback and that keeps things interesting right now. I don't see any saleable commodity in this Pakistan team, you know, because sponsors are a little worried as well, because Pakistan had been on the losing sequence," Ramiz Raja said.

In the absence of Babar Azam, replacement Kamran Ghulam played a sensational knock on Day 1 of the 2nd Test match. Battling cramps, Kamran hit a gritty fifty alongside Saim Ayub and rescues Pakistan from a top order failure after Abdullah Shafique and Shan Masood went back to the hut early. Ayub and Kamran added 100+ runs between themselves, and put Pakistan on a solid position against Ben Stokes' team. At the time of writing Pakistan were 164/2 in 53 overs.