Nasser Hussain: “I feel like Babar (Azam) and Mohammad Rizwan will play a little bit old-fashioned compared to (Alex) Hales and (Jos) Buttler, they will chew up deliveries, but they have been prolific in taking them home and getting 100 (run) partnerships”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former England captain Nasser Hussain admitted that Pakistan skipper Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan “chew up deliveries” in T20Is, but do two major things right.
Delving further into this, he said that they have a habit of leading Pakistan to victory and forging 100-run partnerships too.
“I feel like Babar (Azam) and Mohammad Rizwan will play a little bit old-fashioned compared to (Alex) Hales and (Jos) Buttler, they will chew up deliveries, but they have been prolific in taking them home and getting 100 (run) partnerships,” Hussain, who is now a renowned cricket commentator, told Sky Sports as quoted by Cricwick.
While Azam and Rizwan have been the most consistent run-scorers for the men in green, they have been criticised heavily for taking too long to score their runs.
This, according to their critics and some former players, puts too much pressure on the middle order to fire right from the get-go and boost the run rate.
Due to this, they have recommended that either Azam or Rizwan move down to number three so that a more attacking batsman can replace them at the top of the order. So far, though, no such change has been made.
Azam and Rizwan were recently in action in Pakistan’s home series against New Zealand, which comprised two Tests and three ODIs.
The Pakistan skipper made 226 runs in the Test series, which included a top score of 161, at an average of 56.50.
Rizwan, meanwhile, didn’t get picked in the playing XI for both matches as Sarfaraz Ahmed was selected ahead of him.
As for the ODI series, Azam amassed 149 runs, which included two half-centuries, at an average of 49.66.
Rizwan did get picked for the ODIs and made 182 runs, which also included two fifties, at an average of 91.
The Test series ended as a 0-0 draw, while New Zealand won the ODI series 2-1.
Azam will now captain the Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), while Rizwan will lead the Multan Sultans.
PSL 8 is set to take place from February 13 to March 19 in Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Rawalpindi and Quetta.
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