Mudassar Nazar: “I am aware of how successful Babar and Rizwan have been but they bat at the same pace and seldom take the game away from the opposition”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan lack the ability to “take the game away from the opposition” in T20Is, former batsman Mudassar Nazar said.
The duo open the batting in the shortest format and have been the most consistent players as they regularly score runs.
While he acknowledged their contributions and knows how integral they are to the team’s chances of winning, Nazar pointed out that they “bat at the same pace”.
This sometimes hurts the team, especially when they are in need of quick runs. Nazar isn’t the only person who feels this way as many others have highlighted this problem and spoken out about whether changes need to be made at the top of the order.
“I am aware of how successful Babar and Rizwan have been but they bat at the same pace and seldom take the game away from the opposition,” he was quoted as saying by Cricwick.
Azam and Rizwan recently featured in the home series against New Zealand, which consisted of two Tests and three ODIs.
Azam made 226 runs in the Test series, which included a top score of 161, at an average of 56.50.
He then made 149 runs in the ODI series, which included two half-centuries, at an average of 49.66.
As for Rizwan, he didn’t feature in both Tests as Sarfaraz Ahmed was picked in the playing XI ahead of him.
He did get the chance to play in the ODIs and accumulated 182 runs, which included two fifties, at an average of 91.
The Test series finished as a 0-0 draw, while Pakistan lost the ODI series 2-1.
These poor results have resulted in a lot of speculation about Azam potentially losing the captaincy in some formats.
There has been talk about Shan Masood becoming his successor, but nothing has been confirmed as of yet.
Azam and Rizwan will now captain the Peshawar Zalmi and Multan Sultans respectively in the Pakistan Super League (PSL).
PSL 8 is set to be played in Pakistan from February 13 to March 19, with the matches scheduled to be held in Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi and Quetta.