Following the events of World Cup 2023 in India ,all the teams now have shifted their focus to the next big white ball assignment, the T20I World Cup to be held in June 2024 at the West Indies and the United States of America . Pakistan unlike other teams also began the process of building a team for this marquee event under the management led by former cricketer Mohammad Hafeez who firstly changed the captain of the T20Is from experienced Babar Azam to a relatively youngster Pakistan’s pace spearhead Shaheen Afridi.
In addition to this, the Mohammad Hafeez led management with Pakistan having to play 17 international T20Is around the globe before the marquee event, in their tour to New Zealand for 5 T20Is series which now Pakistan has sadly lost (3-0) with 2 T20Is yet to go and an impeding whitewash on the cards decided to experiment with the already successful opening pair in the format since 2021 Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam and replaced young left handed dashing batter Saim Ayub in the position of Babar Azam as an opener.
The Babar Azam- Mohammad Rizwan opening Combination in T20Is
Prolific Pakistani batter Babar Azam and wicket keeper batter had formed the most ideal and deadly combination at the top of the order in T20I International cricket since the World Cup of 2021 in Dubai. The duo Babar and Rizwan formed a lethal combination when Pakistan thrashed India in the T20I World Cup match by whopping 10 wickets as the duo scored the required 152 runs without any loss in the wicket granting Pakistan the only win in the World Cups across all formats over their arch rivals India.
Going forward, The duo formed the most prolific opening pair in T20I history, with 2400 runs at an average of almost 49 and holds the record for the top 5 best partnership stands for their side in T20Is with double century opening stands versus South Africa and England in the shortest format of the game.
However what ignited the need for change in the opening partnership was Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan though individually are strong performers seemed to are among the bottom feeders in scoring rates among T20I openers, causing the need for a reshuffle.
Babar has batted at No. 3 in the first three games of the New Zealand series, with youngster Saim Ayub partnering Rizwan at the top. After a quick-fire 33 off 14 deliveries in the opening T20I, the newly formed pair have struggled with partnerships of 8 and 23 in the subsequent two games causing Pakistan losses and with the series whitewash now looming this has now irked the likes of former Pakistani batter , Chairman now turned Ramiz Raja who on his Youtube channel slammed Mohammad Hafeez and company for doing so.
So much pressure was created to break the opening pair of Babar Azam & Mohamad Rizwan- Ramiz Raja
Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja has criticized the team management for splitting the opening pair of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand. The duo formed the most prolific opening pair in T20I history, with 2400 runs at an average of almost 49. However, they are among the bottom feeders in scoring rates among T20I openers, causing the need for a reshuffle.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Raja questioned the reasoning behind breaking up the Babar-Rizwan opening pair.
“So much pressure was created to break the opening pair of Babar and Rizwan. After breaking the opening partnership, which was evaluated based on the strike rate. When you bring in new players, they may perform well in leagues, but international cricket is a different beast where there is pressure, and the focus of the entire world is on you. You broke the opening pair that was famous worldwide,” said Ramiz Raja.
He added:
“Either you have workshop of trained openers behind you who are gradually being introduced, when you have no other options. 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,?”
Despite the new opening partnership not being able to produce results, Babar Azam has found his mojo at No. 3. The former skipper has scored a hat-trick of half-centuries in the ongoing series, albeit in losing efforts as Pakistan trail 0-3 with two games remaining.
I support every captain – Ramiz Raja on change in captaincy from Babar Azam post World Cup debacle
Ramiz Raja also responded to the accusations of being in biased in favor of Babar Azam. He stated that his support is not specifically for any individual but for anyone who captains the Pakistan side.
Babar led Pakistan in 134 matches across formats and won 78 games with a winning percentage of over 58. Yet, criticism over many of his tactical decisions, coupled with his dwindling batting form, during last year’s ODI World Cup led to him relinquishing the role in all three formats.
“The accusation made against me was that I backed Babar Azam. I support every captain because their role is to lead not just on the field during the game, but also extends to off the field as well,” stated Raja.
Pakistan named Shan Masood and Shaheen Afridi as Babar’s replacements to lead the side in Tests and T20Is respectively. However, the duo have gotten off to a torrid start.
The side lost 0-3 to Australia in the recent Test series under Shan Masood.. The Men in Green also trail by the same margin to New Zealand in Afridi’s first assignment as T20I captain.
With two more T20Is to go in this already lost series vs the New Zealand are in danger of impeding whitewash 5-0 on their cards and if it does happen then they will be ranked 7th overall in the ICC T20Is Rankings overall. It would be now interesting to see how Pakistan builds its team in the route to the marquee event in June 2024 with 15 T20Is globally and Pakistan Super League (PSL) yet to get underway .