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RAWALPINDI: Babar Azam gets an opportunity to answer all the questions from white-ball coach Mike Hesson over his technique and skillset in Twenty20 cricket when Pakistan takes on South Africa in a three-match series starting Tuesday.

Babar, who needs only nine runs to break Rohit Sharma’s all-time record of 4,231 runs in T20 internationals, hasn’t been selected in the format since December. In that time, Pakistan has played 26 T20s.

Babar has scored 4,223 runs at an average of 39.83, but Hesson had concerns over the premier batter’s strike rate of 129.22. He also wanted improvement in Babar’s technique.

Since taking over in July, Hesson has favored Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman for the top three batting slots.

Without Babar, Pakistan won a bilateral home series against Bangladesh before losing 2-1 in Bangladesh. Pakistan also won 2-1 against West Indies and the tri-series in the United Arab Emirates before losing three times to archrival India in the “no handshake” Asia Cup.

Now the absence of Zaman for the series against South Africa has forced Hesson to “endorse” Babar at No. 3, a batting position where he has scored 1,166 runs in 35 T20s at an average of 44.84.

According to Hesson, Zaman wanted to play in first-class cricket to gear up for the ODI series against South Africa in Faisalabad next month and team management agreed to give the left-hander a break from T20 cricket.

“That’s created an opportunity for another top-order player and it’s a great opportunity to get Babar back into the squad,” Hesson said. “He’s likely to bat at three so it’s a role that I’m very confident that he’ll be able to do well, and it also gives our squad some options coming into the World Cup.”

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Babar has a strong fan base, and strong crowds turned out in Lahore and Rawalpindi to cheer for their star player during the recent drawn 1-1 test series against South Africa. They left the stadium in big numbers the moment Babar got out.

Babar scored 131 runs in four test innings against South Africa, falling to spinners three times. His top score of 50 was not enough to save Pakistan from an eight-wicket loss at Rawalpindi in the second test.

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Injury to David Miller forced the Proteas to hand over the T20 captaincy to Donovan Ferreira, who recently endured a shocking four-wicket loss to Namibia in a one-off game. Miller strained his right hamstring during a training camp in South Africa.

Fast bowler Gerald Coetzee was also ruled out of the white-ball tour to Pakistan because of a pectoral muscle injury he sustained against Namibia, when he was limited to 1.3 overs. Another promising fast bowler, Kwena Maphaka, was ruled out with a hamstring strain.

Matthew Breetzke, who will lead South Africa in the ODI series against Pakistan, and uncapped Tony de Zorzi were drafted into the T20 squad.

The series will also mark the return of Quinton de Kock in white-ball format after the left-hander reversed his ODI retirement last month. He hasn’t played in the shortest format since South Africa lost last year’s T20 World Cup final to India.

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan and Pakistan officials met in Istanbul on Monday for a third day of talks after failing to clinch a lasting peace, three sources familiar with the matter said, as US President Donald Trump repeated an offer to mediate.

The South Asian neighbors agreed to a ceasefire in Doha on October 19 after days of border clashes that killed dozens in the worst such violence since the Taliban seized power in Kabul in 2021.

The current second round of peace talks mediated by Turkiye aims to hammer out a long-term truce, but both sides have offered markedly different interpretations of the talks.

Two Pakistan security sources accused the Afghan Taliban of not cooperating with the dialogue process.

“The Pakistani delegation has made it clear that no compromise is possible on our core demands on cross border terrorism,” one of the sources said.

A Taliban delegate to the talks dismissed as “false” the suggestion that the Islamist group was holding up the talks, adding that the discussions were still in progress.

“Overall the meeting is going well and we discussed multiple issues in a friendly environment,” the person said.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue.

In comments on Monday to state broadcaster RTA, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said, “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan supports dialogue and believes that problems and issues can be resolved through dialogue.”

A spokesperson for Pakistan’s foreign ministry declined to comment on the current status of talks.

On Saturday, Pakistan’s defense minister said he believed Afghanistan wanted peace but that failure to reach an agreement in the Istanbul talks would mean “open war.”

Late on Sunday, Trump repeated an offer to help end the conflict.

“I’ll get that solved very quickly, I know them both,” he said in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur on the sidelines of a regional summit.

“I have no doubt we are going to get that done quickly.”

The clashes began after Pakistan’s air strike this month on Kabul, the Afghan capital, targeting the head of the Pakistani Taliban, a militant group separate from the Taliban that rules Afghanistan.

The Taliban responded with attacks on Pakistani military posts along the length of the 2,600 km (1,600 miles) border.

Pakistan accuses the Taliban of allowing the Pakistani Taliban to operate with impunity inside Afghanistan, from where it launches attacks on Pakistani security forces. Kabul denies this.

Clashes between Pakistan and the Pakistani Taliban over the weekend killed five Pakistani soldiers and 25 militants near the border with Afghanistan, the military said on Sunday.