I'm nobody to deny Babar Azam a future: Shan Masood

While believing in Babar Azam to make a strong comeback, capitalising on his free time from Test, skipper Shan Masood said he could not deny the star batsman a future.

The red-ball captain told this to the BBC's 'Stumped' podcast on Saturday.

Babar quit captaincy of all three formats in 2023 after Pakistan’s disastrous exit from the ODI World Cup at the knockout stage. He was reassigned the duty of white-ball captain in March ahead of the T20 World Cup, this turned out another worst patch of team’s performance under his rein as Pakistan could not make it to the Super Eight.

The out-of-form batsman, who once again gave up the captaincy last month, was then dropped for the second and third Tests against England in October after scoring just 35 runs across both innings in Pakistan's defeat in the first Test.

Babar's absence from the Pakistan set-up is set to be brief, however, with the 30-year-old named in the one-day international and Twenty20 squads for this month's tour of Australia.

Asked about Babar's future, Shan said: "I think he's one of the best batsmen in the world. I'm nobody to deny him a future. He has every quality to be one of the greatest batsmen in Test cricket.

"He's always there or thereabouts in the rankings. Sometimes, people need a break. I personally think this break will do him a great deal of benefit and he'll come back a stronger player.

"There's no harm in being pulled out at times and having a breather. He's played a lot of cricket and gone through a lot, and he'll always be one of the main batsmen to play for Pakistan."

Pakistan next play a Test in December in a two-match series against South Africa.