The former chairperson of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ramiz Raja believes that they should not break up the opening combination of Pakistan captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in T20Is as well. With the T20 World Cup taking place in June, Pakistan will play a huge five-match T20I series in New Zealand starting January 12. As per reports, youngster Saim Ayub is likely to partner Rizwan at the top of the order, moving Babar to his regular position of No.3 a swell.
Speaking to CricWick, Raja said, “I wouldn’t agree [with the decision of splitting Babar and Rizwan]. Pundits across the international fraternity take the name of Babar and Rizwan together as an opening pair. That’s because we have been consistent. From the pool we had available, we picked these two. If you are averaging 40-45 with a strike rate of 128-130, and you’re providing starts, and are fighting it out in the big games, I believe there’s not much to be gained by changing things up.”
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However, Babar Azam and Rizwan have been the most successful opening pair in T20I history, with 2400 runs. And, they are among the bottom feeders in scoring rates among T20I openers as well. Meanwhile, Ayub has been in sublime form over the past few months, with outstanding performances in the PSL and the CPL last year as well. The youngster was the second-leading scorer in the CPL, with 478 runs which came at an average of 43.45 and a strike rate of 142.26. His heroics helped Guyana Warriors clinch the title for the first time in CPL history as well.
“You can’t go into a World Cup in an experimental stage, particularly if you don’t have options. If you have created options, then great. I still believe big teams have a solid opening pair, a solid wicketkeeper, and a solid opening bowling pair,” again said Raja.
“In 2021, we won all the ICC awards – the T20 player of the year (Mohammad Rizwan), the [men’s] Cricketer of the Year Shaheen Afridi. So my point is, please stick with these players a bit more. If they were on top of the world then, why can’t they do it now? This is a ‘handle with care’ phase we are going through. I don’t know how long this board will remain, what will happen to the players after that, how long this management remains,” Ramiz Raja concluded.
