Should Pakistan drop Salman Ali Agha?

Salman Ali Agha should not play anymore.

Salman Ali Agha should not be in the playing XI. In fact, he should not even be among Pakistan’s 16-man squad.

My opinion, which could well be wrong, has only grown stronger after Salman Ali Agha’s magnificent century against Sri Lanka in Sunday’s ODI.

Consecutive fours to bring up a memorable ODI 💯🙌

@SalmanAliAgha1 gets to his century in style, soaking in the applause from the Rawalpindi crowd 🏏

#PAKvSL | #CricketKaJashan | #BackTheBoysInGreen https://t.co/XsJzt2YTjt

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) October 18, 2026

You must be wondering what I am talking about. What has the former skipper done to deserve being kept out of the team?

The truth is that the mistake is not Salman’s. It is the mistake of those who select him for the team.

The Pakistani batter now has an opportunity not merely to become a successful cricketer but a great one. To do that, he will probably have to keep the fire burning within him and stay away from T20I cricket.

This is a decision that not only Salman but also left-handed middle-order batsman Saud Shakeel and those running Pakistan cricket must make.

Whatever anyone says, and whatever arguments they put forward, Salman and Saud are the pillars of Pakistan’s batting line-up. They are the players around whom Pakistan can rebuild its lost standing in Test and ODI cricket.

Salman should be an automatic selection for Tests and ODIs, while Saud should be reserved exclusively for the Test team.

Stupendous knock from the sensational @SalmanAliAgha1 🫡

#PAKvSL | #CricketKaJashan | #BackTheBoysInGreen https://t.co/rpaTcTxqIh

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) October 18, 2026

If Saud also plays ODIs alongside Tests, we will once again put our talent at risk. The stylish left-handed batter needs to understand this sooner rather than later: he should not play as many ODIs as former cricketer Asad Shafiq did. Saud has played a World Cup and the Pakistan Super League. Now, that should be it.

Pakistan Cricket Board should offer Saud and Salman three-year contracts, guaranteeing them places in the team. At the same time, it should prohibit them from playing T20 cricket, including the PSL, and compensate them with additional money in return for this restriction.

We have already wasted talent such as Asim Kamal and Mohammad Wasim. Perhaps we had even bigger players available at the time like Inzamamul Haq, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan. But today, we have become the “tail-enders” of world cricket. Wherever we go, we suffer heavy defeats.

A lack of quality talent may be one reason, but the greater fault lies with team selection, where the wrong players are picked to form the wrong combinations.

Just look at the past few years. How many opportunities, and how many significant ones, have we given to Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Haider Ali, Khushdil Shah, Azam Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz and, above all, Usman Khan?

A stellar show with the bat 💫

@SalmanAliAgha1 is the player of the match for his superb 1️⃣0️⃣7️⃣ 🌟

#PAKvSL | #BackTheBoysInGreen | #CricketKaJashan https://t.co/Iay4riub4s

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) October 18, 2026

Take the Asian Games, for example. Against an Indian team packed with left-handed batters, we first select a right-arm leg-spinner and then make him bowl his second over against two left-handers. Everyone saw what happened next and how it happened.

Saim Ayub earns his place in T20 and ODI cricket largely because of his bowling, which is arguably better than his batting. How can anyone who understands cricket select him for the Test team?

Whenever Saim plays Test cricket, he seems to forget even the shots he plays in ODIs and T20s.

Look at Abhishek Sharma across the border. He has played 67 T20I Internationals, yet he has not even made his ODI debut, let alone received a Test cap. Meanwhile, Saim has already played not one, not two, but nine Test matches.

So, is Saim to blame, or are those who keep selecting him?

Similarly, given the kind of batter Hasan Nawaz is, he should stay away from ODI cricket for now. Maaz Sadaqat, on the other hand, has the ability to play both formats of limited-overs cricket.

Neither of them, however, has a place in the Test team in the foreseeable future, and neither should even be thinking about Test cricket at this stage.

We have, after all, given Faheem Ashraf opportunities in 17 Test matches.

Anyway, one thing has led to another, and we have come a long way from where we started. Let us return to Salman Ali Agha.

Selecting him for T20I cricket was a mistake. Making him captain was a mistake. The manner in which he was then removed as Test captain was a mistake. Dropping him was a mistake.

Then, while serving as a substitute fielder during Pakistan’s match against England, Salman took a magnificent catch. Despite that, he was handed his marching orders and told to return home. That, too, was a mistake.

Then he was summoned back for a royal ceremony. That was another mistake.

But this was where the fire inside Salman began to burn, giving him the chance to become a great player.

First, he made exactly the right decision by not attending that meeting. Then, after returning home, he made another sound decision by playing first-class cricket.

Salman Ali Agha smashed a magnificent triple century for Kingmen’s Academy against Markhor IT Solutions, becoming the 18th batter in Pakistan’s domestic cricket history to score 300 or more runs in a single innings. — PCB

When he could have delivered a crushing response with a magnificent triple century, he instead spoke with composure and maturity. His words suggested that Salman Ali Agha had not chosen the path on which a person burns to ashes. Instead, he had endured the fire and emerged like gold refined in a furnace.

His century on Sunday against Sri Lanka reinforces the belief that Salman can bring glory to himself and Pakistan in Test and ODI cricket, not only through his batting but also through his off-spin bowling.

But to do that, he must stay away from T20I cricket. Far, far away!