Babar Azam: “We don’t need experiments now, I and Rizwan will open the batting”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Babar Azam, who has been reappointed as Pakistan’s limited overs captain, had ruled out the possibility of him or Mohammad Rizwan relinquishing their spots as openers in T20Is during his previous tenure.
Mohammad Rizwan: “You can say that it [breaking the opening pair] has hurt Pakistan”
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Mohammad Rizwan, the first-choice wicketkeeper-batsman, conceded that breaking up his opening partnership with Babar Azam in T20Is “has hurt Pakistan.”
Mohammad Amir: “Brother, you have had fun for four years. No one is getting hurt if youngsters fail for four games. When you try new things, you need to give them time. It’s that simple”
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Pakistan left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir has taken a subtle dig at wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan, saying he has “had fun for four years.”
Mohammad Rizwan: “I can say that Babar bhai has a big heart. We both agreed that there is no issue [in splitting the opening pair]. We both told the management that they can try whatever combination they want”
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Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan expressed his disappointment towards the team management for ending his opening partnership with Babar Azam.
Ramiz Raja: “It takes time to form an opening pair. It’s not an easy task. So, if you have a pair, and they consistently kept you in the field during matches, what benefit did you get after breaking it?”
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Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja expressed his frustration towards the decision to break up the opening pair of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in T20Is.
Shan Masood: “The opening combination of Imam-ul-Haq and Abdullah Shafique has been representing Pakistan for more than a year now. They have given a lot of performances”
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Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood said he plans to stick with Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq as the go-to openers.
Misbah-ul-Haq: “Fakhar Zaman takes one or two overs to gain his momentum”
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Misbah-ul-Haq said he likes the idea of Fakhar Zaman opening the batting for Pakistan in T20Is as he only needs one to two overs to “gain his momentum”.
Shahid Afridi: “For me, Fakhar and Rizwan are [the] Pakistan team openers for T20 cricket”
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Shahid Afridi, the former interim chief selector, believes Fakhar Zaman should replace captain Babar Azam as an opener in T20Is.
Mohammad Yousuf: “It’s hard to take a gamble now when the World Cup is so close”
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Pakistan batting coach Mohammad Yousuf said the team can’t afford to gamble now by switching captain Babar Azam and wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan around.
Mohammad Yousuf: “For the previous two years, we’ve had the same opening duo. We never discussed the topic of switching partners, nor should we”
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Pakistan batting coach Mohammad Yousuf said the topic of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan opening the batting in T20 Internationals shouldn’t be discussed.
