The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has named a 16-member squad for the second and third Test matches against England. The Board has excluded some big names, including Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah from the team that faced England for the first Test in Multan.

Babar Azam has scored merely 352 runs in nine Test matches since the start of 2023 without a fifty-plus score. The former captain could only manage scores of 30 and 5 in the first Test against England in Multan.

Babar Azam has not hit a fifty-plus score in the last 17 innings. He was dismissed for 30 after making a decent start on the flat track of Multan against England. Pakistan ended the opening day strong on 328/4 with Shan Masood and Abdullah Shafique hitting centuries.

Babar Azam will be in action from October 7 in the first of a three-match Test series against England in Multan. Babar is fresh off his resignation as Pakistan's white-ball captain and will be keen on improving his batting record across formats now with less pressure on him.

Pakistan batter Babar Azam has stepped down as the captain of the national side in white-ball cricket. Babar was renamed as Pakistan's white-ball coach before the T20 World Cup 2024. In a long statement, he mentioned that captaincy has been rewarding but was adding to his workload significantly.

"The primary objective of the camp is to define a shared vision and mission, along with setting a roadmap to reignite the pride and excellence that has characterised Pakistan cricket since achieving Test status in 1952," the PCB statement said.

Sarfaraz Ahmed was his hilarious best from behind the stumps in the Stallions vs Dolphins match in Faisalabad in the Champions Cup. However, Babar Azam, the Stallions' star batter had the last laugh. Dolphins are at the bottom of the table with three losses in as many matches.

Ravichandran Ashwin stunned Bangladesh on the opening day of the ongoing Test match in Chennai smashing his sixth century in the format. His partnership with Ravindra Jadeja helped India recover from 144/6 and in the process, he also went past Babar Azam in this WTC cycle.

Babar Azam has not scored a single century in international cricket since smashing 151 runs against Nepal during the Asia Cup last year in August. Since then, he lost his captaincy and regained it as well after one series but neither results changed nor his form returned to best.

England's regular captain Jos Buttler is set to miss the ODI series as well after being ruled out of T20Is against Australia due to a calf injury while Ireland recorded their first-ever T20I win against England in Dublin on Sunday, September 15. Here's a look at the top 10 sports stories on Sept 16.

Babar Azam exhibited his aggressive strokeplay in the Champions Cup match between the Stallions and the Markhors in Faisalabad on Sunday, September 15. Babar took Shahnawaz Dahani for 20 runs in an over including five fours but still couldn't help his side win the contest.

Former Pakistan captain Younis Khan gave a suggestion to Babar Azam while naming Virat Kohli during a press event in Karachi. Babar has been struggling for form of late, with his last fifty-plus score coming in May against Ireland.

Champions Cup 2024 Live: Babar Azam is set to play under Mohammad Haris' captaincy with Stallions while the star pacer Shaheen Afridi represents the Lions in Pakistan's One-Day Cup tournament, which started on September 12.

Babar Azam lost his captaincy after the ODI World Cup debacle but he returned to the helm only after one series and was appointed the Pakistan skipper for T20 World Cup 2024. But with Pakistan performing poorly, will he retain his captaincy? Will they change the captain once again?

Sri Lanka defeated England by eight wickets in the third and final Test match at the Oval. England had already won the first two Test matches and thereby pocketed the series 2-1. But this win for Sri Lanka came after 10 years against England in the longest format as they created multiple records.

"Unlike in the IPL, players are compelled to perform. If an international star fails to perform in the IPL then he is not picked at the auction. Steve Smith is a big example," Danish Kaneria told India TV in an exclusive interview.

Babar Azam has struggled for runs in recent times. He has not hit a fifty in Test cricket in his last 16 innings. Former Pakistan bowler Danish Kaneria has stated that Babar should not have been made the captain, citing that every performer is not captaincy material.

Virat Kohli is senior to Babar Azam. Virat played and led India at the ICC Men's U19 World Cup 2008 in Malaysia whereas Babar represented Pakistan at the 2010 and the 2012 U19 Men's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand and Australia respectively.

Babar Azam has only scored 113 runs in three Test matches for Pakistan in 2024 thus far whereas Joe Root is the leading run-getter with 961 runs in 10 matches at an amazing average of 60.06.

Bangladesh have created history beating Pakistan in the second Test match to win the series 2-0. It is their first-ever away series win in Tests in 15 years and this victory has given them a massive boost in the World Test Championship points table.