Salman Butt: “In a team of 11 players, each player has a specific role, and Babar is absolutely right when he says neither he can become Saim nor Saim can become Babar”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt said opening batsman Saim Ayub can’t become Babar Azam as he has a “specific role” in the team”.
Ayub’s role is to get Pakistan off to quick starts in the first six overs, which is something he has failed to do as he has not been scoring runs consistently.
The 22-year-old’s struggles don’t mimic that of Azam, who has long been the men in green’s go-to run-scorer in all three formats.
“In a team of 11 players, each player has a specific role, and Babar is absolutely right when he says neither he can become Saim nor Saim can become Babar,” Salman was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
In the 2024 T20 World Cup, Ayub only managed to muster 23 runs in two matches at an average of 11.50 and a strike-rate of 79.31.
As for Azam, he finished with 122 runs in four games at an average of 40.66 and a strike-rate of 101.66.
Pakistan began their campaign with back-to-back losses to the United States of America and India before fighting back to beat Canada and Ireland.
However, their late comeback was not enough to earn them a spot in the Super Eights and they were ultimately eliminated in the group stage.
Pakistan Squad for 2024 T20 World Cup: Babar Azam (capt), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan (wk), Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed
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