As proven statistically, Pakistani skipper Babar Azam should open the innings with Fakhar Zaman and not with wicketkeeping batter Mohammad Rizwan. Although Rizwan-Babar opening partnerships have been fruitful for the men in green on multiple occasions, they have failed to deliver in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2022. The recently-concluded Asia Cup 2022 can also be quoted as one of the examples of why the Rizwan-Babar pair is not suitable to open in T20Is.
Following Rizwan’s slow approach to open the innings and failure to rotate the strike, the experts feel, puts pressure on the skipper. Hence, it becomes the reason for eventually getting Babar out under pressure. The right-handed skipper averages 57 while opening with Zaman, who adheres to an aggressive approach, while he averages 32 while opening with Rizwan.
No doubt, Rizwan has proved his worth in the shortest format, but the fact that he takes time to settle is gradually becoming an obstacle for Azam. The experts have realized and presented their opinion that Azam should open with Rizwan in the forthcoming games. Notably, Zaman, an aggressive batter, although was failing to perform lately, is now everyone’s hope after Rizwan-Babar supremacy has stopped working. Or maybe, the left-hander was uncomfortable opening down the order.
A well-known statistician, Mazhar Arshad took it to Twitter, and justified his statement, becoming fans’ voice, penning out that,
Fakhar stopped opening from 2021. But after that, there were four T20I matches where Babar didn't open with Rizwan and one match in which Rizwan didn't play.
Babar's scores in those 5 matches: 44 vs RSA, 50 vs RSA, 52 vs Zim, 51 vs WI and 87no vs Eng. That's an average of 71.— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad) October 28, 2022
It must be noted that Fakhar was earlier named in the reserves, but he later was swapped with Usman Qadir in the main squad. With intense pressure from fans and experts, it is likely that we may see Fakhar and Babar opening while Rizwan comes one down. It will eventually get Shan Masood to bat two down, who was going pretty fine at one down.
