Pakistan selector and former umpire Aleem Dar has submitted his resignation following the team’s exit from the T20 World Cup 2026. Salman Ali Agha and co. were knocked out of the tournament in the Super 8 stage after losing one match and a game being washed out, resulting in them being unable to go past New Zealand owing to poor net run-rate. Reports have claimed that Dar was unhappy with head coach Mike Hesson being given complete authority in terms of selections and hence decided to end his association with the Pakistan Cricket Board.
Aleem Dar resigns as Pakistan selector
As per news agency PTI, a source claimed that the PCB is yet to accept Dar’s resignation. He was on the selection committee which also comprises of Asad Shafique and Aaqib Javed. The source claimed that the former umpire had been very upset when Pakistan squad for T20 World Cup 2026 was selected and that he had resisted the inclusion of Babar Azam and Shadab Khan but it was Hesson who wanted them in the side.
“Aleem is very upset that when the World Cup squad was being selected he had resisted the inclusion of Babar Azam and Shadab Khan in the squad without any performance but Hesson insisted on having them,” the source said.
Babar had a miserable campaign in the T20 WC and completely failed to fire, putting huge pressure on rest of the batting unit. He managed to score just 90 runs in 5 matches, with a highest score of 46 runs. Azam did not bat in a couple of matches and was even demoted, with Hesson himself admitting that Babar did not have a good strike rate in World Cups.
The report states that Dar had questioned the inclusion of Babar and Shadab in the squad and had even asked why Rizwan shouldn’t be selected if players were called in without any performance.
“Aleem had also insisted that when Babar and Shadab could be called in without performance, Muhammad Rizwan should be included in place of Usman Khan because of his experience but no one supported him,” the source added.
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