Daren Sammy: “Look, you got experienced Babar, Saim and I think in the last PSL they were the best openers”

Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani

Peshawar Zalmi head coach Daren Sammy believes the Pakistan duo of Babar Azam and Saim Ayub “were the best openers” in the 2023 Pakistan Super League (PSL).

Azam, who has been reappointed as Pakistan’s white-ball captain, recently captained the Zalmi in this year’s PSL, while Ayub was also part of the franchise.

Both of them have opened the batting for Pakistan in the past, but Azam was recently dropped down to number three in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand. Ayub, meanwhile, was slotted in at the top of the order and opened with Mohammad Rizwan.

Considering how dominant both players were in PSL 8 last year, Sammy feels that no other openers performed better than them.

“Look, you got experienced Babar, Saim and I think in the last PSL they were the best openers,” he was quoted as saying by Geo Super.

In PSL 9, Azam was the highest run-scorer with 569 runs in 11 games, which included a century and five fifties, at an average of 56.90 and a strike-rate of 142.60.

As for Ayub, he made 345 runs in 11 matches for the Zalmi, which included two half-centuries, at an average of 31.36 and a strike-rate of 157.53.

Pakistan’s next assignment will be a five-match T20I series against New Zealand, which will take place in Rawalpindi and Lahore from April 18 to 27.

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

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