Shahid Afridi: “Most of all, I believe Fakhar Zaman should be promoted to open the innings alongside Mohammad Rizwan, with Babar dropping down to number three”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi wants to see Fakhar Zaman opening the batting again and feels he should partner with Mohammad Rizwan.
Having selected his go-to openers, Afridi noted that limited overs skipper Babar Azam should bat at number three.
Azam and Rizwan have opened sporadically as of late, but both batsmen have been criticised for batting too slow and taking up too many deliveries to make their runs.
Due to this, Afridi hopes that promoting Zaman from number four to the opening spot will add some much-needed firepower at the top of the order.
“Most of all, I believe Fakhar Zaman should be promoted to open the innings alongside Mohammad Rizwan, with Babar dropping down to number three,” he wrote in his ICC column as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Zaman recently represented Pakistan in the 2024 T20 World Cup and made 33 runs in four matches at an average of 8.25 and a strike-rate of 110.
The men in green lost their first two games against the United States of America and India before bouncing back to beat Canada and Ireland.
Despite triumphing in those matches, they ended up being eliminated in the group stage of the competition.
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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