Mohammad Amir: “You need impact in the powerplay from the beginning. Saim and Fakhar are impactful players”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir believes Saim Ayub and Fakhar Zaman are the right batsmen to open the batting in T20Is as they are “impactful players.”
Ayub has been a dominant force in domestic cricket lately and is currently part of Pakistan’s team for the ongoing three-match Test series against Australia.
As for Zaman, he recently played in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup, where he amassed 220 runs in four matches, which included a century and a fifty, at an average of 73.33.
After that, he represented Abbottabad Region in the National T20 Cup, where he amassed 320 runs in eight matches, which included three fifties, at an average of 45.71 and a strike-rate of 135.02.
Currently, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are the first-choice openers since they have consistently made runs and won Pakistan matches.
However, Amir feels that the selectors and team management need to change the batting order going forward.
“You need impact in the powerplay from the beginning. Saim and Fakhar are impactful players,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Pakistan lost the first Test against Australia by 360 runs and will look to bounce back in the second Test, which starts on December 26 in Melbourne.
Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi
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