Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman should have played against Australia, says ex-captain

Pakistan's humiliating 5-0 whitewash against Australia has not sit well with the cricketing fans and pundits that have questioned the team’s strategy to rest key players before the series.

Former captain-turned-cricket commentator Ramiz Raja opined that top order batsmen Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman should not have been rested, which could have changed the results for Pakistan.

“I disagree with the strategy of resting the players, we should not rest batsmen especially Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman, because they both needed to practice and play matches,” said Raja, while talking at Ramiz Speaks.

“It would have been much better if we have brought two three players from our Playing XI in the series that could have played few games and then rested,” said Raja.

Talking about the team’s rest policy, head coach Mickey Arthur said that he could not have taken his full strength into the series, as the players were in action since September. “We knew what we had to do. We couldn't play our full strength side here, those guys have played since Sep 12th and they needed a mental and physical break,” said Arthur, while talking at post match conference.

"We had the option of either resting them in the PSL or in this series. That was our dilemma," he added.