Pakistan drop star batter Babar Azam for Bangladesh ODI series

Pakistan dropped batting great Babar Azam on Wednesday for next week's one-day international series in Bangladesh, bringing in six uncapped players with an eye on next year's World Cup.

Opener Saim Ayub, spin all-rounders Shadab Khan and Mohammad Nawaz, and pace bowler Naseem Shah were also dropped from the 15-man squad for the three-match series, to be played in Dhaka on March 11, 13 and 15.

The shake-up follows Pakistan's failure to reach the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup currenlty being played in India and Sri Lanka.
Azam scored only 91 runs in the T20 World Cup, but has amassed 6,501 runs in 140 ODIs with 20 centuries.

Batsman Fakhar Zaman was ruled out with a hamstring injury suffered at the World Cup.

Pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi will captain the squad, the Pakistan Cricket Board said.

Abdul Samad, Maaz Sadaqat, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori, Saad Masood, Sahibzada Farhan and Shamyl Hussain are the six who have not played an ODI.

The 50-over World Cup will be hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia in October next year.

Pakistan squad: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Faheem Ashraf, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Hussain Talat, Maaz Sadaqat, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Muhammad Ghazi Ghori, Saad Masood, Sahibzada Farhan, Salman Ali Agha. Shamyl Hussain.

Agence France-Presse