{"id":396358,"date":"2026-01-29T06:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T06:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/396358\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T06:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T06:08:12","slug":"salman-ali-agha-visibly-agitated-snaps-at-constant-spotlight-on-babar-azam-there-are-14-other-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/396358\/","title":{"rendered":"Salman Ali Agha, visibly agitated, snaps at constant spotlight on Babar Azam: \u2018There are 14 other players\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pakistan\u2019s T20I captain Salman Ali Agha appeared visibly irritated by the continued focus on Babar Azam<\/a>, snapping back when questioned about the batter\u2019s form during the pre-series press conference ahead of the T20I series against Australia. Babar, who missed out on Pakistan\u2019s Asia Cup squad, has since returned to the T20I setup and has been named for both the Australia series and the upcoming T20 World Cup<\/a>. However, the scrutiny around him has resurfaced following a modest outing in the Big Bash League<\/a>, where he turned out for the Sydney Sixers, keeping the spotlight firmly on his form once again.<\/p>\n

\"SalmanSalman Ali Agha calls out constant focus on Babar Azam. (AP and AFP Images)<\/p>\n

Pakistan captain Agha did not hold back while addressing the constant spotlight on Babar, expressing his frustration over the recurring line of questioning. Speaking to the media ahead of the T20I series, Agha urged attention to be shared across the squad rather than fixating on one player.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish someday I attend a press conference and not get asked about Babar Azam,\u201d Salman said in the press conference. There are 14 other players, batsmen in the team, so think about them as well and talk about them too. Let him be and focus on batting.”<\/p>\n

Also Read – Rahul Dravid sounds alarm on India\u2019s rapid Test decline, questions adaptability across formats: ‘How do you find time?’<\/a><\/p>\n

Babar endured a quiet outing in BBL 15, managing 202 runs across 11 matches. He averaged 22.44 and struck at 103.06, numbers that fell short of expectations and added to the scrutiny around his form ahead of the international season. He also grabbed headlines when Australia star Steve Smith, his opening partner at Sydney Sixers, deny him a single during a match to retain strike for power surge as the Pakistan batter looked miffed with his teammate’s decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cBabar Azam proven performer for Pakistan\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Agha came out in strong support of Babar Azam despite questions over his Big Bash League campaign. He underlined that franchise performances were not a concern for the team management, reiterating that Babar\u2019s track record and contributions for Pakistan remain the only yardstick that truly matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, I agree Babar did not play as per expectations in the BBL, but for us, he has been a proven performer always, so I have no issues. For me, it only matters how he plays for Pakistan. What he does in the BBL does not matter to me,” he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pakistan\u2019s T20I captain Salman Ali Agha appeared visibly irritated by the continued focus on Babar Azam, snapping back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[88418,29233,26815,1721,148711,101,8051,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-396358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-australia-series","tag-babar-azam","tag-big-bash-league","tag-cricket","tag-pakistan-t20i-captain","tag-sports","tag-t20-world-cup","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}