[Watch] "That's Pakistan cricket issue"- Ben Stokes' blunt statement on Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah's exclusion from 2nd ENG-PAK Test

England captain Ben Stokes had a surprisingly blunt take on Pakistan excluding star players Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi, and Naseem Shah for the second Test in Multan, starting October 15. Stokes, who has missed England's last four Tests due to a hamstring injury, is set to return and lead the side for the second Test.

Despite his absence, the visitors had no issues defeating a troubled Pakistan unit by an innings and 47 runs in the series opener. It was Pakistan's sixth consecutive Test loss with half of it coming at home, including a shocking 0-2 defeat to Bangladesh.

As a result, Pakistan made massive changes to their squad for the second and third Test with the exclusion of the three stars being the biggest talking point.

When asked about the same by reporters during the press conference on the eve of the second Test, Stokes bluntly responded:

"Everything on that, that's Pakistan cricket issue. Nothing to do with me."

Here is a video clipping of the same:

While Babar scored a combined 35 runs in the first Test, making it 18 consecutive Test innings without a half-century, Shaheen and Naseem combined for woeful figures of 3/277 as England scored a mammoth 823/7.

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"Babar is our No.1 player" - Azhar Mahmood

Pakistan v Ireland - ICC Men's T20 Cricket World Cup West Indies & USA 2024 - Source: Getty

Amidst questions over Babar Azam's exclusion from the remainder of the England series, Pakistan assistant coach Azhar Mahmood confirmed that the ace batter had not been dropped and only rested with the hectic schedule in mind.

The 29-year-old has averaged a dreadful 20.70 in Tests since the beginning of last year with a highest score of only 41 in 17 innings.

Addressing Babar's exclusion from the squad during the pre-match press conference, Mahmood said as quoted by India Today:

"Babar is our No.1 player. There is no question about that. His technique and ability. If you look at Pakistan's FTP, there's a lot of cricket coming up. So, because of that, the selection committee decided that this was the best time to give Babar a rest. After that, we have to go to Australia and Zimbabwe and there is a South Africa tour as well. So that's important."

Mahmood also confirmed that the pace-bowling duo of Shaheen Afridi and Naseem Shah have been rested and not dropped as part of the workload and injury management.

"If you look at the fast bowling, this was the third test under new management. Before that we were also struggling as we wanted to know how to get 20 wickets. So now we think we have more options with spin. There were also a few niggles. Naseem had a few niggles and Shaheen was playing a lot of cricket. So we decided to rest him," said Mahmood.

Pakistan have announced their XI for the second England Test with Kamran Ghulam expected to replace Babar at No.4.

Pakistan XI for 2nd Test vs England

Abdullah Shafique, Saim Ayub, Shan Masood (c), Kamran Ghulam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Aamer Jamal, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan, Zahid Mehmood