Speaking to the media in Lahore, the National Cricket Team’s chief selector, Muhammad Wasim, expressed confidence in the opening pair of Babar Azam and Muhammad Rizwan and stated that he is not considering a backup opener for the T20 World Cup in Australia.
In response to a question, the chief selector stated that Babar Azam and Rizwan understand the concerns about the increase in strike rate, but if we look at their numbers, both openers have scored runs consistently.
Captain Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are known for their ability to play the innings, but in T20 cricket, the opener puts pressure on the opposition by showing power hitting, which both batsmen have failed to do, putting more pressure on the middle order for runs.
Babar and Rizwan had a strike rate of 115.68 and 115.98 in the powerplay at the start of 2020, respectively, the opening three batsmen of the Pakistan team have bowled more than three-quarters of the balls after World Cup 2021, the highest among all sides.
Muhammad Wasim defended Pakistan’s performance in the Asia Cup, saying, “We are a run-up team, we have won 9 of the last 13 T20 matches where we have beaten the big teams.”
