Babar Azam: “Our opening partnership has been very successful for the last two years”

Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani

Pakistan captain Babar Azam has seemingly ruled out changing the opening duo in T20Is, which currently comprises him and Mohammad Rizwan.

This will not appeal to a lot of people, however, as the duo have come under intense criticism for their low strike-rate and the number of overs it takes them to score their runs.

Their critics feel as if the middle order batsmen are put under immense pressure to start hitting from ball one in order to boost the run rate and give the men in green a competitive score.

While there have been suggestions of having someone like Fakhar Zaman open the batting and Azam or Rizwan moving down to number three, the Pakistan skipper has effectively signalled that this will not be happening.

“Our opening partnership has been very successful for the last two years,” the 28-year-old was quoted as saying by A Sports.

Azam and Rizwan were both recently in action for Pakistan during their home series against New Zealand.

In the two Tests, Azam scored 226 runs, which included a top score of 161, at an average of 56.50.

Rizwan, meanwhile, was not selected in the playing XI for both matches as Sarfarfaz Ahmed replaced him behind the stumps.

Sarfaraz made the most of his opportunity as he amassed 335 runs, which included a career-best innings of 118 and three fifties, at an average of 83.75.

As for the three-match ODI series, Azam made 149 runs, which included two fifties, at an average of 49.66.

Rizwan, meanwhile, got the chance to play all three games and scored 182 runs, which included two half-centuries, at an average of 91.

With Pakistan having endured a disappointing home season, there has been mounting speculation that Azam may no longer captain the men in green in all three formats.

Top order batsman Shan Masood has been earmarked as a potential successor in ODIs, but nothing has been confirmed as of yet.

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