Asian Games: No Babar, Shaheen as Sahibzada Farhan will lead the young Pakistani team

Pakistan named Sahibzada Farhan as captain for the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, with the Pakistan Cricket Board selecting a young 15-man squad and leaving out several established white names, including Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Salman Ali Agha and Shadab Khan.

Abdul Samad has been named vice-captain while four players in the squad, Akif Javed, Ali Raza, Maaz Sadaqat and Saad Masood, are yet to make their T20I debut for Pakistan.

The selection marks a clear shift in approach after Pakistan’s recent tournament disappointments. They exited the recently concluded T20 World Cup at the Super 8 stage and also he was not good enough for India in the Asia Cup final.

In this context, the PCB has selected a team made up of new players for the multi-sport event in which the men’s cricket competition starts on September 24 and the medal matches are scheduled for October 3.

Thirty-year-old Farhan is among the most experienced players in the squad. He played 46 T20Is for Pakistan, scoring 1,305 runs, including two hundreds and 10 fifties, and finished as the top run-scorer in the 2026 T20 World Cup.

Despite these credentials, he has never led Pakistan in any white-ball format. Samad has played five T20Is but has not featured in the format for Pakistan since March last year. He was recently part of the ODI series against Australia.

The choice of PCB underscores its stated focus on giving younger players more exposure. The board said in a release: “Among the 15-member squad, Akif Javed, Ali Raza, Maaz Sadaqat and Saad Masood are the four players who are yet to represent Pakistan in the T20I format. Besides, 14 of the 15 players selected for the Asian Games squad are part of the NCA White-Ball Camp, which is being held from June 15 in Lahore.”

The squad’s composition reflects the board’s wider development plans, with the majority of players already embedded in the NCA’s white-ball program ahead of the tournament.

Usman Khan has been picked as the main wicket-taker in a team that looks markedly different from the one Pakistan fielded in the T20 World Cup earlier this year.

Senior players and established leaders have been left out, the selectors instead backing a younger group that includes Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Arafat Minhas, Haider Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Saim Ayub and Sufyan Moqim along with an uncapped quartet.

Cricket has made three appearances at the Asian Games: 2010, 2014 and 2022. Pakistan finished fourth in the last edition, held in 2023, after winning one match and losing two.

This time, the PCB decided to use the event as an opportunity to speed up the transition, handing Farhan his first leadership role and surrounding him with a team hailing from the NCA’s white-ball camp.

Pakistan Asian Games Team: Sahibzada Farhan (captain), Abdul Samad (vice-captain), Abrar Ahmed, Ahmed Daniyal, Akif Javed, Ali Raza, Arafat Minhas, Haider Ali, Hasan Nawaz, Maaz Sadaqat, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Saad Masood, Saim Ayub, Sufyan K Moqim and Usmankeeper. The headline decision is clear: no Babar, no Shaheen and a tournament team built around younger players, with Farhan asked to lead the reset.

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Issued by:

Saurabh Kumar

Published on:

June 10, 2026 11:25 AM IST