Former Pakistan pacer Aaqib Javed believes that Pakistan will not win tournaments if Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan continue their batting approach and be cautious as openers.
Rizwan and Babar, both batters ranked one and two in T20I rankings respectively, have been heavy scorers for Pakistan. Still, their strike rate and approach in the powerplay overs have been a topic of hot discussion for a while, especially after their defeat to Sri Lanka at the Asia Cup final.
Javed also claimed that the top order’s cautious and wait-and-watch approach only puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the batting order.
Read: How Pakistan’s batting approach at top backfired in tournament and cost them the title
“These two openers are not going to win you tournaments. Take the two openers [Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan], the number one and number two players in the world. But such a player should know what to do. The vice-captain plays for 15 overs – starts playing when the asking rate is 8 and leaves after taking it to 17!,” Javed was quoted by The Indian Express.
In the recently-concluded Asia Cup final, Pakistan did not get off to the best of starts as Babar Azam and Fakhar Zaman were dismissed in quick succession. Rizwan was joined by Ifthikar Ahmed and the duo went about pulling the team back on track. However, they were very slow in their approach and the required rate kept on escalating.
This approach did not go down too well with the fans as well as former players who believed that this partnership was the main reason behind Pakistan’s loss.
Javed also went on to say that Pakistan needed to promote Fakhar Zaman at the top of the order and use his potential as an opener.
“By making Fakhar Zaman bat at No.3, beda-gark kar rahe hai (they are destroying him). Fakhar should open with one of these two (Babar and Rizwan),” Javed added.
Javed panned the Pakistan selectors for playing Iftikhar Ahmed, Asif Ali, and Khushdil Shah and suggested alternatives for them in the middle order. He advocated for the inclusion of Tayyab Tahir and Agha Salman.
“You don’t want to give chances to those who can play. Shan [Masood] run kar-kar k paagal ho chuka hai (he has been piling up runs like mad) but you don’t want to play him. There are other players who deserve a place. Taiyaab Tahir is a good performer. Then there is Agha Salman, performing in white-ball cricket.”
He said that Shan Masood should bat at number three while Rizwan should drop down to number four.
“Shan Masood should bat at No.3. Let Rizwan bat at No. 4 so that once the field is opened up, he can rotate the strike. Then you bring in Tayyab Tahir or Agha Salman.
“And as for Khushdil, Asif and Iftikhar, you can still play one of them at No.7 when there is no other option in the entire country. These three aren’t good. No batting. What else could happen [with the current batting line-up]; we can only lose”,” he said.
Shoaib Malik had also recently tweeted about the like and dislike culture in the Pakistan team environment.
– When will we come out from friendship, liking & disliking culture.
Allah always helps the honest…— Shoaib Malik 🇵🇰 (@realshoaibmalik) September 11, 2022
Javed had an opinion on that too and said that the selectors should be able to find an able replacement if they want to exclude him.
“Then there is Shoaib Malik. If you have a problem with someone’s age, at least you should have an option choice ready. You have just forcibly removed someone … will Asif Ali play in his place? Or Iftikhar? Or Khushdil?”
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