Pakistan, July 12 -- Mike Hesson has dismissed speculation that he had asked Babar Azam to consider taking up wicketkeeping in a bid to regain his place in Pakistan's T20I side. Reports had surfaced in recent days that the new Pakistan coach had told Babar, until recently a captain and mainstay in the T20I side, that he needed another skill to make him a more viable option at the top of the order.

Babar has never kept wicket in his career, but Hesson was, in any case, categorical that Pakistan did not view him as a wicketkeeping option. Babar was not part of Pakistan's last T20I squad for the home series against Bangladesh and is also not part of the squad that travels there for a return series later this month. The two series are the fi...