Sunil Gavaskar: “I was surprised to find out that Pakistan were looking to experiment and drop Rizwan or Babar down the order”
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India batting icon Sunil Gavaskar has admitted that he was surprised Pakistan decided to experiment with their opening batsmen when captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were doing such a good job.
To prove his point, Gavaskar pointed to the 2021 T20 World Cup, where Azam and Rizwan opened the batting and chased down a target of 152 in 17.5 overs to lead Pakistan to a 10-wicket win over India.
Lately, Saim Ayub has been one of Pakistan’s first-choice openers, but he hasn’t been able to have a massive impact.
Given the issues the men in green are having at the top of the order, Gavaskar suggested that they revert back to Azam and Rizwan since it was a combination that produced a lot of success.
“After what happened 2 years ago in Dubai when they surpassed India’s score without getting out and making Pakistan win by 10 wickets. I was surprised to find out that Pakistan were looking to experiment and drop Rizwan or Babar down the order,” he was quoted as saying by respected journalist Saj Sadiq on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Azam recently captained Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup and accumulated 122 runs in four matches at an average of 40.66 and a strike-rate of 101.66.
As for Rizwan, he made 110 runs in four games, which included a top score of 53 not out, at an average of 36.66 and a strike-rate of 90.90.
The men in green lost their first two matches against the United States of America and India before rebounding to claim wins over Canada and Ireland.
Despite this, they were eliminated in the group stage of the tournament.
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