Saim Ayub leaves Pakistan ODI squad to rebuild his batting form

Pakistan opener Saim Ayub has been released from the national one-day squad for the rest of the ongoing tri-series after asking to return to domestic cricket to work on his batting, the Pakistan Cricket Board said on Monday.

According to Dawn, the decision followed a conversation between Saim and head coach Mike Hesson, after which the team management and the national selection committee agreed to the request. The board said it respected the player's own assessment of his form. Sahibzada Farhan, who currently captains Pakistan's T20 side, has been named as his replacement.

"I want to improve my performance by playing domestic cricket," Saim said, according to Minute Mirror.

The 24-year-old left-handed opener has made 21 runs in three matches in the tournament, which Pakistan is hosting against England and Sri Lanka. His overall one-day record remains strong: 772 runs in 20 matches at an average of 40.63, with three centuries and three half-centuries. His recent run is far leaner, however: 257 runs in his last 11 ODI innings at 23.36, with two fifties.

The change comes a day after Pakistan beat England by one wicket at Lahore's Gaddafi Stadium to reach the final. Chasing 243, the hosts slumped to 154 for nine before Shadab Khan's unbeaten 113 and an unbroken 89-run ninth-wicket stand with Haris Rauf carried them home.

Farhan's opportunity in the 50-over format is a short one so far: six ODIs have brought him 101 runs at 16.83. He will now be available for the closing stages of a tournament Pakistan enters as a finalist.

For Saim, the move is a deliberate step back from international cricket rather than a dropping, with the board framing it as his own call and the selectors accepting it. Domestic matches give him the regular innings he has not had at the top of the order in this series.

Neither the PCB nor the selection committee indicated how long Saim would stay out of the national frame, or whether he would be considered for the series that follows the tri-series. The board's statement did not name the domestic competition he will join.