Babar Azam calls for reserve days for white-ball matches

Pakistan team captain Babar Azam has backed the idea of adding reserve days to white-ball matches to minimise the loss of cricket due to weather.

In a pre-series presser held virtually at the Sabina Park, Jamaica on Wednesday, Azam rued that an important T20I series in the context of the T20 World Cup was washed out by rain.

“As part of the T20 World Cup preparations, we wanted to give maximum opportunities to our players against the firepower of the West Indies but unfortunately the series got badly affected due to rain,” he said while announcing a 19-man squad for the Test series.

Holder, Brooks return for West Indies against Pakistan

“No one can control the weather, but I think it is time to look at alternates to ensure cricket is not affected by weather. Maybe adding reserve days to every white-ball match is an option, I don’t know, but I think there needs to be some debate around ensuring there is minimum loss of cricket due to weather.”

Pakistan team is currently in the West Indies for a four-match T20 series and two Test matches. They won the only completed match, and took the series 1-0, while three games were washed out. The two-match Test series starts at the Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica, and is likely to be hit by weather as there is a rain forecast on all five days of the Test match.

Talking about the preparation for the Test series, Azam said he expected his batsmen to step up to the challenging conditions in Jamaica.

West Indies 'starting from scratch' before Pakistan Test series

“Pitches here provide a good challenge to the batters hence, they need to come to the party and display their true potential and calibre in the two Tests.”

The skipper hoped that his side will carry the momentum from the past few series and put up an improved and enhanced performance.

Pakistan Test squad against West Indies

Babar Azam (captain), Mohammad Rizwan (vice-captain) (wicketkeeper) Abdullah Shafique, Abid Ali, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Hasan Ali, Imran Butt, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wicketkeeper), Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Yasir Shah, and Zahid Mahmood.