Mohammad Azharuddin: “Yes, the captain of the Pakistan team is not a natural opener”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former India batsman Mohammad Azharuddin admitted that Pakistan captain Babar Azam is “not a natural opener”.
Azam opens the batting for the men in green in T20Is with Mohammad Rizwan, but has been criticised heavily due to his low strike-rate.
Many people feel that since he and Rizwan take a long time to score their runs, it puts extra pressure on the middle order batsmen to boost the scoring rate when they come in to bat.
Azharuddin agrees with the notion that Azam is not suited to be an opener and should instead demote himself lower down the order.
“Yes, the captain of the Pakistan team is not a natural opener,” he told Cricket Pakistan.
In the recent season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), Azam captained the Peshawar Zalmi and opened the batting for them.
He ended up finishing as the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament with 522 runs in 11 matches, which included a century and five fifties, at an average of 52.20 and a strike-rate of 145.40.
Despite his outstanding form, he was rested for Pakistan’s three-match T20I series against Afghanistan in Sharjah, which the men in green lost 2-1.
Pakistan will now play five T20Is and five ODIs against New Zealand on home soil, with the series scheduled to begin on April 14.