This dynamic duo has been essentially the most profitable opening pair in T20I historical past, accumulating a formidable 2400 runs at a mean of almost 49.
Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, Ramiz Raja, has expressed his criticism in direction of the team management for separating the opening pair of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan within the ongoing T20I collection in opposition to New Zealand.
This dynamic duo has been essentially the most profitable opening pair in T20I historical past, accumulating a formidable 2400 runs at a mean of almost 49. However, their scoring charges have been comparatively low in comparison with different T20I openers, prompting the necessity for a reshuffle.
In the primary three video games of the New Zealand collection, Babar has been batting at No. 3, whereas the younger expertise, Saim Ayub, has been paired with Rizwan on the prime. Although Ayub confirmed promise with a quick-fire 33 off 14 deliveries within the opening T20I, the newly fashioned pair has struggled to ascertain robust partnerships, solely managing scores of 8 and 23 within the subsequent two video games.
Raja, in a video on his YouTube channel, raised doubts concerning the rationale behind breaking apart the profitable Babar-Rizwan opening pair.
“So much pressure was created to break the opening pair of Babar and Rizwan. After breaking the opening partnership, which was evaluated based on the strike rate. When you bring in new players, they may perform well in leagues, but international cricket is a different beast where there is pressure, and the focus of the entire world is on you. You broke the opening pair that was famous worldwide,” mentioned Raja.
“Either you have workshop of trained openers behind you who are gradually being introduced, when you have no other options. It takes time to form an opening pair. It’s not an easy task. So, if you have a pair, and they consistently kept you in the field during matches, what benefit did you get after breaking it?,” he added.
Despite the dearth of success from the brand new opening partnership, Babar has found his rhythm on the No. 3 place. The former captain has achieved a outstanding feat of scoring three consecutive half-centuries within the ongoing collection, though Pakistan has sadly been on the shedding aspect, trailing 0-3 with solely two video games left to play.
Ramiz Raja additionally addressed the accusations of bias in direction of Babar Azam, clarifying that his assist extends to any particular person who captains the Pakistan aspect.
Babar Azam, who captained Pakistan in 134 matches throughout numerous codecs, achieved a formidable file of 78 victories, leading to a profitable proportion of over 58. However, regardless of his success, Babar confronted criticism for a few of his tactical selections and a decline in his batting type in the course of the earlier 12 months’s ODI World Cup. Consequently, he made the choice to step down from his captaincy position in all three codecs.
“The accusation made against me was that I backed Babar Azam. I support every captain because their role is to lead not just on the field during the game, but also extends to off the field as well,” said Raja.
Pakistan has appointed Shan Masood and Shaheen Afridi as replacements for Babar Azam to steer the aspect in Tests and T20Is, respectively. Unfortunately, the duo has had a difficult begin.
Under Masood’s captaincy, the team suffered a disappointing 0-3 defeat in opposition to Australia within the current Test collection. Similarly, in Afridi’s first task as T20I captain, Pakistan finds themselves trailing by the identical margin in opposition to New Zealand.
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