Rawalpindi's Three Nights, Lahore's Seven Matches: Why Pakistan Enters the T20Is Without Babar and Shaheen

There is a page in my notebook titled “the silence after the whistle.” At the 2026 World Cup in Russia, after Japan went 2-0 up, I did not watch Belgium's 94th-minute goal so much as I watched the faces around me — what they were not saying was louder. In nine years of watching cricket, I have learned that the most honest moments of the game live not in the result but in the silence just before it. When the Pakistan Cricket Board announced two separate squads for the Sri Lanka T20I series and the Pakistan-England-Sri Lanka ODI tri-series, that same image came back. What is missing from this announcement is speaking the loudest.

On paper the two squads are clean. The three T20Is are at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on 9, 11 and 13 October. Then a seven-match ODI tri-series: the first three matches also at Rawalpindi, the remaining league games and the final at Lahore. Hosts Pakistan face England and Sri Lanka. So this white-ball announcement carries two separate teams, two separate captains, and two entirely separate futures. Keep in mind that T20I and ODI logic are distinct — powerplay, middle and death overs in T20Is; two new balls, middle-over spin control and final-ten acceleration in ODIs. Conflating them invites wrong decisions.

The ODI squad includes Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Fakhar Zaman, Salman Ali Agha and Saim Ayub. The T20I squad includes Sahibzada Farhan — its new captain — alongside Fakhar, Saim, Hasan Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Abrar Ahmed, Sufiyan Muqeem and Naseem. Placed side by side, one thing becomes clear: Pakistan has split its white-ball identity in two — an experienced ODI spine, and an experimental T20I reset.

The strongest proof of that split is the absence of Babar Azam and Shaheen Shah Afridi from the T20I squad. Babar was for years the face of Pakistan's batting, but in the modern T20I template his anchor profile has drawn questions — high average, moderate strike rate. Is that what pushed him out of the format? The source carries no performance data, so this is inference, not fact. Shaheen, meanwhile, remains ODI captain but is absent from the T20I squad. In other words, captaincy itself is now split by format — Farhan in T20Is, Shaheen in ODIs.

I have a reservation about Farhan's captaincy, and I will state it plainly. He has been made T20I captain on the back of leading Pakistan at the Asian Games. But the Asian Games cricket side is not a full-strength team, and a multi-sport event is a different context altogether. Projecting full-strength bilateral captaincy from a multi-sport tournament is a weak foundation. That is not Farhan's fault; it is a question about how the decision was built. How he bats, how many runs, what strike rate — none of those numbers appear in the source, so merit cannot be judged.

With Salman Ali Agha the story runs the other way. After losing the T20I captaincy he was left out of the squad entirely, yet he stays in the ODI squad. Removing a captain and then dropping him from that format is not routine rotation — it is a clear signal of a forced leadership transition. His retention in ODI confirms the decision is format-specific. Off-spin and batting in the middle overs are likely the two roles keeping him in the ODI frame.

Now the new faces. Razaullah's maiden white-ball call-up is justified in the source by his batting in the third Test against England. Here I pause. Grading white-ball value off a single Test innings is a big bet on a small sample. Test batting and T20I/ODI batting demand completely different things — the ball's seam, the field setting, the tempo, the rate of scoring. This is the classic cross-format projection trap. Mohammad Imran Randhawa also earns a maiden T20I call-up. And the wicketkeeping slot is unsettled: two keepers in the ODI squad (Ghori and Saad Baig), one in the T20Is (Nafay), while Usman Khan — once a favoured keeper-batter — misses both. Spinner Usman Tariq also misses out.

I want to dwell on the two-venue question. All three T20Is are at Rawalpindi, historically a surface with good pace and bounce. But the ODI tournament rolls from Rawalpindi to Lahore, and Lahore means spin-friendly conditions. Two pitch types in one tournament mean the side must think in two tactical languages before the final — a Rawalpindi pace plan may become a Lahore spin plan. Sri Lanka's tradition is strong in spin, so the Lahore leg may tilt their way. And October evening fixtures raise the dew risk, a real disadvantage for the side bowling second.

But this is where my core doubt sits. Everyone is calling this a “reset.” I would say much of what is being sold as a reset is really workload management and calendar pressure. Four pacers from the Asian Games squad — Ali Raza, Wasim Jr, Akif Javed, Ahmed Daniyal — have been left out. Read that as a pure form decision and you will be wrong. Three T20Is on 9, 11 and 13 October in a row, immediately followed by the ODI tri-series, leaves almost no rest window. For players in both squads — Naseem, Shadab, Saim — that is a hard test.

And there is the familiar shadow of injury. Shaheen, Naseem and Haris Rauf each carry an injury history, and the ODI attack rests on them. With two new balls in ODI cricket, Shaheen's swing is sharpest in the powerplay — his value is front-loaded, and so is the burden. Captaincy adds non-bowling cognitive load to a fast bowler already carrying the heaviest physical load — that combination is risky.

Home advantage must not be forgotten. The entire contest is in Pakistan, at Rawalpindi and Lahore — the country's two biggest cricket markets. Pakistan's home record is markedly stronger than its away record. England are the better-resourced side with deeper batting, but at home that gap narrows. Home advantage is probably Pakistan's most tangible weapon — and the least discussed on paper. Pakistan has historically oscillated between roughly 4 and 7 in both white-ball ICC tables, though no specific ranking is given in this source.

Now the part that interests me most. The absence of Babar and Shaheen from the T20I squad, and Mohammad Rizwan from both squads, means the T20I side is genuinely being rebuilt, not cosmetically reshuffled. But that is the danger. When you remove experienced anchors, you also remove the stability and the silent trust that no one can measure in a dressing room. Pakistan's fans are highly reactive to senior omissions. If results go well, everyone forgets; if they go badly, this announcement becomes the centre of every criticism.

One thing needs clearing up. The excitement building around Razaullah and Randhawa is largely external — media and fans. The announcement itself is neutral and factual. I do not chase headlines; I chase the quiet moment after the final whistle. The quiet moment in this announcement is the question: how much weight can a single Test cameo carry?

If I sat on Pakistan's selection desk, I would give Farhan one clear role — “you are the T20I captain; ODI thinking does not enter your head.” I would split Shaheen's workload so he is fresh for the important ODI tri-series matches. And I would fix Shadab's and Abrar's roles in advance with the Lahore pitch in mind.

Finally, back to the silence. Before the first ball at Rawalpindi there is a moment when you can feel three thousand people breathe at once. This announcement is the silence before that moment — no ball bowled, no decision proven. The 94th minute, where tactics dissolve and the soul of the game speaks, has not arrived. Pakistan has split one team into two and calls it the future. When the first ball is bowled at Rawalpindi on 9 October, we will learn whether this two-track plan is a bold move, or a decision taken under pressure.