Former Pakistan captain and ex-chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Ramiz Raja, feels Babar Azam’s exclusion from the Test squad for the recent home series against England was a “knee-jerk reaction”.

However, Ramiz also believes Babar has it in him to come back stronger on the tour of Australia beginning with the first ODI in Melbourne on November 4.

“My stance is quite public and I maintain that he (Babar) should have been asked whether he needed time off cricket or not. Obviously, his form wasn’t great, but even then there should have been a much better way of easing him out of a Test series. So, it was probably a knee-jerk reaction.

“But I’m sure he’ll come back as a stronger individual. This is probably the first time he has been dropped in his career. Let’s see how the comeback is or whether he has changed his technique a little and how motivated he is because such things can spur on an individual,” Ramiz told select media during a virtual news conference organised by Cricket Australia.

Despite the high after the come-from-behind win over England, Ramiz agreed that the current situation in Pakistan cricket isn’t ideal with Gary Kirsten quitting from the white-ball coach’s post.

“... Pakistan needed an experienced hand in Gary Kirsten. I don’t know what happened between him and the cricket board, but it doesn’t look great just before the
start of a tour that you lose your coach who has been a master at what he has done over the years.

“Besides when you search for international coaches, with the kind of backlash you will probably get from Kirsten’s resignation, it’s not going to be an easy, straightforward job for Pakistan to hire international talent.”

Analysing newly-appointed limited-overs captain Mohammad Rizwan, Ramiz, in response to a query from The Telegraph, said: “...Now that he’s got his chance, what Rizwan needs to do is to stamp his authority. There’s a little hotchpotch when the selection committee is nominating the playing XI, and I’m not to sure whether it happens anywhere else in the world.

“Cricket is a sport where leadership does matter. You can’t run it on from the sidelines like football. So, I hope Rizwan gets his playing XI...”