Pakistan T20 Squad: Why Mohammad Haris Missed Out on Selection? Babar Azam Reveals

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Mohammad Haris' omission from the Pakistan T20 squad has been met with rage from some fans, who felt he would have been a solution to the slow top order strike rates, but skipper Babar Azam explained the reason behind the wicketkeeper-batter's exclusion from the group.

Pakistan has opted for Mohammad Rizwan, Azam Khan and Usman Khan as their three wicketkeeping options in the squad for the Ireland and England series with Hasebuallah Khan reportedly being considered as the backup.

The wicketkeeper-batter Haris, who played a crucial role in Pakistan's journey to the final in the 2022 edition, has been frozen out of the T20 World Cup 2024 plans, starting with the tour to New Zealand earlier this year.

A mixed outing in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) under Babar with Peshawar Zalmi also didn't help his cause as he continues to be out of the team's T20 World Cup plans. In fact, he last featured for Pakistan in the Asia Cup last year, and played his last T20I over a year ago.

In 9 T20I appearances, Haris has amassed 126 runs at a strike rate of 127.27 with the best score of 31. Overall in T20s, the 23-year-old has scored 1658 runs in 74 innings at a strike rate of 145.31.

Babar acknowledged that Haris may not have got the opportunities following the 2022 T20 World Cup, but cited the crowded top order as the reason behind his exclusion from the squad ahead of the 2024 edition.

"He didn't get a full opportunity after that World Cup but he belongs in the top order. In the top order, we already have [Mohammad] Rizwan, Fakhar [Zaman], Saim [Ayub] and myself," Babar said at press conference before the team left for Ireland.

The skipper, who backed Haris, also added that Pakistan's inablitiy to provide him a spot in the already crowded top order led the selectors to pick players to fit the best combination for the upcoming T20Is.

"He got an opportunity in the PSL, but the way he wanted to execute, he couldn't. That doesn't make him a bad player because it happens to every player at some point," Babar added.

"We then discussed where we would play him. If we'd kept him in the side he'd have been forced to play in the lower-middle order. And then we went with the best possible collective combination."