Fakhar Zaman: “You can create a back-up for Babar and Rizwan but it is difficult to take their place”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan big-hitter Fakhar Zaman has conceded that it will be incredibly difficult to replace batsmen Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in the T20I team as they consistently score runs and win games.
Given how good Azam and Rizwan are, both of them are seen as undroppable when it comes to selection.
That being said, Zaman believes it is a good idea to have back-ups for the duo in the event that they may be unavailable for selection.
“You can create a back-up for Babar and Rizwan but it is difficult to take their place,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Azam and Rizwan both played in the recent five-match T20I series against New Zealand, with the former scoring 213 runs, which included three fifties, at an average of 42.60 and a strike-rate of 142.
Rizwan, meanwhile, finished with 184 runs, which included a top score of 90 not out, at an average of 46 and a strike-rate of 131.42.
As for Zaman, he accumulated 126 runs, which included a top score of 50, at an average of 25.20 and a strike-rate of 165.78.
Azam is now captaining the Peshawar Zalmi in the 2024 Pakistan Super League (PSL), while Rizwan is leading the Multan Sultans and Zaman is playing for the Lahore Qalandars.
PSL 9 got underway on February 17 and will be held until March 18 in four cities – Lahore, Multan, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
Peshawar Zalmi Squad for PSL 9: Babar Azam (captain), Rovman Powell, Saim Ayub, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Asif Ali, Mohammad Haris, Aamer Jamal, Naveen-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Salman Irshad, Arif Yaqoob, Umair Afridi, Dan Mousley, Haseebullah Khan, Mohammad Zeeshan, Mehran Mumtaz, Luke Wood, Sufiyan Muqeem, Waqar Salamkheil, Arshad Iqbal, Gus Atkinson, Shamar Joseph
Multan Sultans Squad for PSL 9: Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Iftikhar Ahmed, David Willey, Khushdil Shah, Usama Mir, Dawid Malan, Abbas Afridi, Reeza Hendricks, Tayyab Tahir, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Khan, Mohammad Ali, Faisal Akram, Yasir Khan, Chris Jordan, Aftab Ibrahim, Johnson Charles, Mohammad Shehzad
Lahore Qalandars Squad for PSL 9: Shaheen Shah Afridi (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Rassie van der Dussen, Haris Rauf, David Wiese, Sahibzada Farhan, Sikandar Raza, Abdullah Shafique, Zaman Khan, Mirza Tahir Baig, Mohammad Imran, Ahsan Hafeez, Dan Lawrence, Jahandad Khan, Syed Faridoun, Shai Hope, Kamran Ghulam, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Tayyab Abbas
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