(Image source: X.com)
[Saba Sports News] As Pakistan succumbed to fourth successive defeat in the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand, their vice-captain Mohammad Rizwan talked about the downside of his opening split with Babar Azam.
Battig first on Friday, Pakistan could only score 158 runs out of which 90 came off Rizwan’s bat in 63 deliveries.
Despite his heroic efforts, the Pakistan bowlers failed to defend the total. Shaheen Shah Afridi took three early wickets, however, Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Phillips carried the bat from thereon leading New Zealand to a comfortable victory on the back of their fifties.
Entering into the series, Pakistan made a change in their opening combination, paring Rizwan with Saim Ayub instead of Babar. Ayub has shown flashes of brilliance but still he has not been able to grab the opportunity fully.
Speaking on this, Rizwan asserted that disbanding his and Babar’s opening pair has hurt Pakistan. However, they are in sync with the team management’s view of trying different combinations before the T20 World Cup 2024.
“You can say that it [breaking the opening pair] has hurt Pakistan,” Rizwan said as quoted in the post-match presser.
“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. The difficulty arises when you break things that were already working well. However, management is looking at what can be extracted best from different combinations,” he added.
The fifth T20I will take place in Christchurch on January 21.