Moeen Ali: “I thought the 2 Pakistan openers were brilliant. I know they get a lot of stick for their strike-rates but I believe their strike-rates are very good anyway. They are brilliant players”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
England all-rounder Moeen Ali believes that Pakistan captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are unfairly criticised for their strike-rate in T20Is.
The duo open the batting in the shortest format and have been the two most consistent batsmen in the team.
Despite scoring plenty of runs and having won numerous games for the men in green, many people feel that they don’t score fast enough, which puts pressure on the middle order batsmen to start firing right from the get-go.
However, Moeen feels that Azam and Rizwan are outstanding players and sees no problem with their strike-rate.
“I thought the 2 Pakistan openers were brilliant. I know they get a lot of stick for their strike-rates but I believe their strike-rates are very good anyway. They are brilliant players,” he was quoted as saying by respected journalist Saj Safiq on Twitter.
Azam recently led Pakistan in their two-Test series against New Zealand, which ended as a 0-0 draw.
He had a great showing with the bat as he finished with 226 runs, which included a top score of 161, at an average of 56.50.
Rizwan, meanwhile, didn’t feature in both games as Sarfaraz Ahmed took his spot in the side.
Sarfaraz was absolutely brilliant in his comeback series as he scored 335 runs, which included a career-best 118 and three half-centuries, at an average of 83.75.
Pakistan will now play three ODIs against New Zealand, with the first match starting on Monday in Karachi.
Pakistan Squad for New Zealand ODI series: Babar Azam (capt), Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim, Naseem Shah, Agha Salman, Shahnawaz Dahani, Shan Masood, Tayyab Tahir, Usama Mir