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"Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan should open if high-scoring games aren't happening in the World Cup": Shoaib Malik

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Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik has shared his insights on Pakistan's opening combination for the upcoming T20 World Cup during a media conference held at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York:

"Look, Saim Ayub is the kind of player who plays a high-risk game. Any batter who plays with high risk has fewer chances of consistent performance, but there is a lot of talent in him. You need to see that if high-scoring matches are happening, then you will have to open with Saim Ayub."

"But if high-scoring games are not happening, then it depends on the conditions, if it's those 160-170 score matches again, then I guess Babar and Rizwan should open."

Is Shoaib Malik suggesting or taking a jibe at Babar and Rizwan as the opening pair?
 
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I m not convinced with saim, he looks a proper hack without skills and he doesn't even try to score quickly that's why after so many matches at international level his strike rate is low.
Time to dump saim and bring haris back and fakhar and haris should open the innings.

Under any circumstances fakhar should always open.

Babar and rizwan should not be even playing t20s let alone opening the innings.
 
followed said:
I m not convinced with saim, he looks a proper hack without skills and he doesn't even try to score quickly that's why after so many matches at international level his strike rate is low.
Time to dump saim and bring haris back and fakhar and haris should open the innings.

Under any circumstances fakhar should always open.

Babar and rizwan should not be even playing t20s let alone opening the innings.
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Agree on Saim point though.
 
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Even if babar and rizwan are kicked out of the team we are never gonna be able to chase 190/200 + totals with any other player.

Pakistan always relied on the bowling to curtail other teams , and the problem is our bowling has declined over the years and is unable to constrict teams under below par scores.
The pace bowling is weak and the spinners are average at best , shaheen is the star bowler but even he is one game from getting smashed no way he's better than a prime umar gul who was a top t20 bowler for us.
 
What’s a non high scoring game? 140-160?

120 balls.

2 spinners locking in with 1-20 in their 4= 2-40 in 8 overs (48 balls)

If target is 160 in 120 balls, the remainder need to score 120 in 12 overs on a slow, breaking track

Baqi aap sab ki marzi if you think the powerplay will not matter in the World Cup
 
How do we know a game is high-scoring before the teams are announced?
 
MenInG said:
How do we know a game is high-scoring before the teams are announced?
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Malik sab is saying pitches will vary

Some venues will be high scoring. He would know, he’s the most traveled cricketer in Pakistan history
 
They should stay in touch with Malik.
Just send him ground and pitch photos before every match for valuable insights into how the game will progress.
Team selection and batting order as well
 
If a low scoring game occurs so it doesn't necessarily mean that we must chase the score in the last over.

It's a mega event and net run rate will matter the most so we have to go with attacking openers to keep Pakistan on their toes.
 
I don't think the pitches in US will be low scoring but the ones in Caribbean might well be. The good thing is we can delay this decision till after the first round and look at how the first round matches in Caribbean have progressed.

I would still suggest that if we are chasing, Babar and Rizwan are our best bets as openers regardless of conditions or target. Basically they are our best players who tend to play conservatively batting first but while chasing, they are forced to bat at the required rate.
 
This suggestion holds merit, though I remain skeptical about Saim.
However, if Harris and Fakhar open, even if they depart early, we still have Babar and Rizwan to stabilize the innings.
Yet, if Harris and Fakhar perform well in the initial overs, it would be an added advantage for Pakistan.

I'm puzzled as to why Rizwan, Babar, and their supporters are so insistent on this approach.
 
hafizexpress said:
It's not necessarily a jibe. It's an honest suggestion. However, low scoring means slower batting by Babar and Rizwan. The 2022 Asia Cup Final will haunt me for a long time.
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Malik is advocating the concept of shuffling which is an alien concept to Pakistan cricket team. These morons don't know how to shuffle anyone besides fakhar zaman going lower and lower
 
emranabbas said:
This suggestion holds merit, though I remain skeptical about Saim.
However, if Harris and Fakhar open, even if they depart early, we still have Babar and Rizwan to stabilize the innings.
Yet, if Harris and Fakhar perform well in the initial overs, it would be an added advantage for Pakistan.

I'm puzzled as to why Rizwan, Babar, and their supporters are so insistent on this approach.
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@Rana Bro malik is talking about shuffling and trying new things, as things should be tried. It is a known fact in cricket that you need to shuffle depending on situations. Australia does this 24/7. England is even better at it with them being the literal Kings of shuffling even their no 8 to opening at time.

Infact we've been advocating the concept of shuffling forever. Pakistan doesn't understand this concept. For them it's like solving the black hole theory and trying to win a Nobel prize.
 
pakistani pride said:
Saim has been a failure so far. Give him the Eng series, but he seems not ready yet for the big stage.
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yeah nothing will help pakistan even if he performs against England because one thing is certain about him that he cant handle pressure of the big event.
 
Why are ex cricketers so clueless.

We can't afford a low SR during PPs. High risk is the only way because even 180 is no longer enough.

I would even pick Sharjeel or Asif Ali to open because we need Fakhar in the middle overs for the same reason.
 
You mean like the 2022 WC in Australia? If I recall, they both failed miserably and just because conditions may not suit 200+ on a regular basis doesn’t mean you should construct your team to basically be a 150-160 run team.

Any other serious teams saying, oh if the conditions are a tad lower scoring, let’s load up with accumulators up top. No, if anything, you want more aggression during the PP because the runs will dry up once the field opens, spinners come up and it’s a slow dry track.
 
The irony is that Malik himself played the same way in T20 cricket as Babar and Rizwan do but stil giving an advise.
 
Cricket Warrior said:
shuffling will cause more trouble they need to make a stable combination, maybe drop saim and bring fakhar to open with either Babar or Usman
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Has it caused problems for Australia and England in t20?

This rule applies to odi and test only. T20 needs the most adjustments for obvious reasons.
 
I don't think he is taking a jibe.

He's a canny cricketer. Knows the game a bit. He's played around the world and is merely suggesting a strategy.
 
mominsaigol said:
Has it caused problems for Australia and England in t20?

This rule applies to odi and test only. T20 needs the most adjustments for obvious reasons.
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True but it suits you when you have something to replace. Right now we have hardly seven players available who can fit into the playing 11 and if we start making adjustments with them too it will ruin their confidence.

and u know our kaptaan he never tried anything against mighty Irelanad so what we can expect for WC now
 
Shoaib Akhtar 100 MPH said:
What ever the conditions or pitch Saim should open.

He s got CPL experience and brings a left - right combo at the top and on his day can destroy attacks and win the game for his side single headedly.
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yeah he has experience playing in caribean conditions where he did well so yes let him play this world cup and that too on opening slot if he still never performs so say good bye to him and move on.
 
Cricket Warrior said:
The irony is that Malik himself played the same way in T20 cricket as Babar and Rizwan do but stil giving an advise.
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I don't know what cricket you watch since his come back in 2016 he averaged 45 with strike rate of 145+ he adjusted well to moden day t20
 
Shoaib Akhtar 100 MPH said:
What ever the conditions or pitch Saim should open.

He s got CPL experience and brings a left - right combo at the top and on his day can destroy attacks and win the game for his side single headedly.
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Saim has not won anything in 20 games till now. 20 games is a good number to judge a player. Saim has far proven to be a franchise and league cricket hack. I hope he comes good in the next England series otherwise I would just replace fkhar with saim and we will still have a left-right hand combo.
 
Rizwana’s SR has improved drastically and Babar is providing solid 50’s. Just need other batters to contribute with quick paced innings and Pakistan will do well. :mahmood
 
BouncerGuy said:
Saim has not won anything in 20 games till now. 20 games is a good number to judge a player. Saim has far proven to be a franchise and league cricket hack. I hope he comes good in the next England series otherwise I would just replace fkhar with saim and we will still have a left-right hand combo.
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Yes he has played 20 matches but in an unstable team with constant changes and uncertainty.

Batting is about partnerships and understanding especially at the top of the order.

They don't know and we still don't know if its Saim / Babar or Riz with the WC round the corner.

Not to mention the new coach.

What our top 4 is , middle order and lower order is going to be.

There s talk of Usman , Rauf and one other player in the playing X1 for the first T20 in leeds.

Players like Saim are the modern T20 breed that we are looking for.

He has the potential to be explosive like Imran Nazir was and a match winner on his day.

But when you play high risk cricket you will get low scores which is the nature of the beast.

His one test innings in Aus shows he is no hack there is some series ability to work with.

This is where Kirsten can earn his crust.
 
Cricket Warrior said:
yeah he has experience playing in caribean conditions where he did well so yes let him play this world cup and that too on opening slot if he still never performs so say good bye to him and move on.
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He s 21 and is a new gen T20 bat.

Regardless of what happens in the WC he is a future star along with Muhammad Haris and they should be persisted with for the long term.

When you play high risk cricket you will get low scores that is part of the territory.

These are the X factor players that teams look for.

Its about utilising their talents smartly and making them understand their games to bring in higher scores and better consistency.
 
I don't understand how any of this can be seen as a dig towards anyone??

Malik is talking about tactics. Some of the trickiest games of cricket are those with middle of the road scores - Pak have historically been notoriously bad at chasing these scores in ODI/T20 cricket. Games like those need a solid start and proper cricket. Saim has shown he hasn't quite got the game awareness to play the situation just yet...that MAY come in time. Until then all Malik is emphasising is the need to play the situation in those games. No dig at all.
 
emranabbas said:
I don't know what cricket you watch since his come back in 2016 he averaged 45 with strike rate of 145+ he adjusted well to moden day t20
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And how many international matches has he played since then?

It doesnt matter how he played in certain years, its about how he performed throughout his career which was way too slow even slower than Rizwan and Babar.

u can see his achievenments in T20i cricket

1716227162336.png
 
Cricket Warrior said:
And how many international matches has he played since then?

It doesnt matter how he played in certain years, its about how he performed throughout his career which was way too slow even slower than Rizwan and Babar.

u can see his achievenments in T20i cricket

View attachment 143960
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That is such a narrow and wrong way to look at things because it Ignores the idea of player improvement.

By this logic hafeez is a terrible cricketer because from 2003 to 2010 he was a joke.

From 2011 to 2015 he was a joke opener who frankly should have been dropped and I remember old threads where people were advocating for hafeez to be removed and called him a disgrace.

But after psl exploits in UAE where he discovered his form in the middle order he ends up becoming out best allrounder since the misbah era. The likes of shadab, chacha, Imad, and even malik to a lesser extent aren't anywhere close to his caliber.

Similarly people mock azhar Ali and call him trash at odi opening and actually put imam over him due to stats, well azhar played in a different era. When he initially played pdi he averaged 21 with a sr of 65.

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to increase your avg all the way upto 38 and sr all the way upto 78 in literally 1.5 years? Azhar was godly during the Bangladesh series where Pakistan got whitewashed 3-0 showcasing how poor misbah truly was. Granted azhar was a crap captain but I have respect for azhar for actually stepping down and not having any ego.

It's the same with malik, Malik still struggles with pace but his play against medium and spin is unmatched and his fitness is better then anyone even at his current age. And no king fraud babar is no where close to malik in terms of medium and spin play, although babar is a much better player of Pace then malik and a much better no 3. Malik was never suited to top order.

Players improve all the time, past statistics don't end up mattering beyond when a player retires it adds a bit of a stain.

Infact the worrying thing is when a player average drops considerably aka babar dropping his t20 avg from 50 to 41 and it might drop to 39 given how poor his form has been in the past 2 years.
 
Cricket Warrior said:
And how many international matches has he played since then?

It doesnt matter how he played in certain years, its about how he performed throughout his career which was way too slow even slower than Rizwan and Babar.

u can see his achievenments in T20i cricket

View attachment 143960
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Malik is one of the worst cricketer to play for Pakistan. Not surprise at the posters who like him.
 
PakEngFan said:
Malik is one of the worst cricketer to play for Pakistan. Not surprise at the posters who like him.
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Are you now gonna say shadab and chacha are also better then malik?

Bro why do you have beef with every player who represented 2017 champions trophy besides babar? The one dude who was the least contributing in CT.
 
Cricket Warrior said:
And how many international matches has he played since then?

It doesnt matter how he played in certain years, its about how he performed throughout his career which was way too slow even slower than Rizwan and Babar.

u can see his achievenments in T20i cricket

View attachment 143960
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your type of people wont understand this because all you see is the average column and shout babar babar
and your not intelligent to understand such analysis. best to stick to cheerleading babar and rizwan.


@mominsaigol has replied very well i don't need to add anything else
 
mominsaigol said:
Are you now gonna say shadab and chacha are also better then malik?

Bro why do you have beef with every player who represented 2017 champions trophy besides babar? The one dude who was the least contributing in CT.
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That maybe because Malik was the captain of the Pakistan team which beat his side Uganda by 148 runs in a T20 match.

www.espncricinfo.com

PAK vs UGA Cricket Scorecard, 1st Match at Nairobi, September 01, 2007

Live Cricket Scoreboard: Get Pakistan vs Uganda 1st Match, cricket scorecard, Twenty20 Quadrangular (in Kenya) 2007/08 dated September 01, 2007.
www.espncricinfo.com www.espncricinfo.com
 
RyanRyan10 said:
That maybe because Malik was the captain of the Pakistan team which beat his side Uganda by 148 runs in a T20 match.

www.espncricinfo.com

PAK vs UGA Cricket Scorecard, 1st Match at Nairobi, September 01, 2007

Live Cricket Scoreboard: Get Pakistan vs Uganda 1st Match, cricket scorecard, Twenty20 Quadrangular (in Kenya) 2007/08 dated September 01, 2007.
www.espncricinfo.com www.espncricinfo.com
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\Babar went unnoticed throughout the tournament. Only performed in the final where he got outperformed by literally everyone batting that day minus malik, but malik had more contributions throughout the tournament.
 
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emranabbas said:
your type of people wont understand this because all you see is the average column and shout babar babar
and your not intelligent to understand such analysis. best to stick to cheerleading babar and rizwan.


@mominsaigol has replied very well i don't need to add anything else
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Where did u saw me cheerleading for babar and rizwan? i do critise them where its due.

Analysis should be based on statistics and I have shown you his stats which indicate he's another version of Babar and Rizwan who solely focus on their averages rather than SR.
 
mominsaigol said:
That is such a narrow and wrong way to look at things because it Ignores the idea of player improvement.

By this logic hafeez is a terrible cricketer because from 2003 to 2010 he was a joke.

From 2011 to 2015 he was a joke opener who frankly should have been dropped and I remember old threads where people were advocating for hafeez to be removed and called him a disgrace.

But after psl exploits in UAE where he discovered his form in the middle order he ends up becoming out best allrounder since the misbah era. The likes of shadab, chacha, Imad, and even malik to a lesser extent aren't anywhere close to his caliber.

Similarly people mock azhar Ali and call him trash at odi opening and actually put imam over him due to stats, well azhar played in a different era. When he initially played pdi he averaged 21 with a sr of 65.

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to increase your avg all the way upto 38 and sr all the way upto 78 in literally 1.5 years? Azhar was godly during the Bangladesh series where Pakistan got whitewashed 3-0 showcasing how poor misbah truly was. Granted azhar was a crap captain but I have respect for azhar for actually stepping down and not having any ego.

It's the same with malik, Malik still struggles with pace but his play against medium and spin is unmatched and his fitness is better then anyone even at his current age. And no king fraud babar is no where close to malik in terms of medium and spin play, although babar is a much better player of Pace then malik and a much better no 3. Malik was never suited to top order.

Players improve all the time, past statistics don't end up mattering beyond when a player retires it adds a bit of a stain.

Infact the worrying thing is when a player average drops considerably aka babar dropping his t20 avg from 50 to 41 and it might drop to 39 given how poor his form has been in the past 2 years.
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Wasn’t Azhar Ali the captain when Pakistan got whitewashed by Bangladesh?
 
mominsaigol said:
That's what I said, Azhar was a garbage captain, but he sucked it up, admitted it and stepped down.

He didn't pull a babar.
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you said 30- reflect poorly on Misbah and I pointed out that Misbah wasn’t the captain. Azhar Ali didn’t willingly resign, he was asked to resign and then dropped as soon he resigned. He was getting sacked anyway.
 
cricketmania22 said:
you said 30- reflect poorly on Misbah and I pointed out that Misbah wasn’t the captain. Azhar Ali didn’t willingly resign, he was asked to resign and then dropped as soon he resigned. He was getting sacked anyway.
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Reflect poorly on misbah as azhar was his successor and the dire state that the team was in was clear as Bangaldesh was the first series Pakistan played after 2015 Cup. It was clear as day pak was going to lose, the team a mess?

As for azhar, again you're wrong? He was asked to resign so he resigned but he continued to play until CT 2017? Even made a significant contribution in the final? Where are you getting the dropped soon after from when he made it clear dueing the tournament that he wished to resign?

When did he immediately get dropped like you claimed?
 
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I won't be surprised if we see him saying opposite to this in a post match show on a TV channel when Pakistan post a 160 total in the upcoming T20 World Cup because Babar and Rizwan never looked to score 10 in over, even in the powerplay.
 
Cricket Warrior said:
Where did u saw me cheerleading for babar and rizwan? i do critise them where its due.

Analysis should be based on statistics and I have shown you his stats which indicate he's another version of Babar and Rizwan who solely focus on their averages rather than SR.
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Read the thread title

This exactly is the problem your only looking at statistics your doing exactly what Babar and rizwan are doing just focusing on average.

No he's not another version of Babar firstly first half of his career is in an era where strike rate of 130 is acceptable that's why you have to break it up.

Even Dhoni who retired from t20 in 2019 has a strike rate of 125 but you can't deny he was a gun player for that era

This time of the day 150+ is a must if your playing in a power play but Babar is still living in dhonis era
 
Modern-day requires modern solution. Babar and RIzwan might score runs in every game but the important thing that matters the most is how many balls they end up playing in the end, how many runs they have scored and what is the impact of these scores. Averages are overrated in T20s. Both of then need to bring some innovation to their game to stay up with the modern cricket otherwise the criticism will never stop.
 
Here's an idea that might seem genius if it works but foolish in reality. Since our team is super "blessed" with four openers, why not use different combinations for setting a target and for chasing?

Rizwan and Babar can open when chasing; if the target is high, they'll have no choice but to attack, otherwise they can play their usual steady game.

When setting a target, let Saim and Fakhar open to provide a fast start without the burden of anchoring the innings.

Hey, I'm just an armchair expert with innovative ideas! Can someone share this with the team planners? And make sure to patent this idea to my name :D
 
Yesterday highlighted why Babar and Rizwan shouldn't open, regardless of whether it's a low or high-scoring game.

Babar and Rizwan should only open against weaker teams or C teams

Oh wait Rizwan even struggled against the USA.
 
emranabbas said:
Yesterday highlighted why Babar and Rizwan shouldn't open, regardless of whether it's a low or high-scoring game.

Babar and Rizwan should only open against weaker teams or C teams

Oh wait Rizwan even struggled against the USA.
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They shouldn't open because their cowards, plain and simple, the USA super over proved that.

People talking about them being accumulators etc and openers not opening, don't realise that other teams either play the one who performed that day, like England did with stokes and butler in 2019 otherwise they'd have gone with butler and Roy, or they base their judgment on SR and who plays 16-20 best

Based of SR alone, fakhar should be facing first ball, and babar on the other end, as babar sr in overs 16-20 is 200 and fakhar is even higher granted its inflated cause both these 2 rarely get their.

The fact that captain knowing this statistics is not walking out and is hiding behind 1 tailender and one slow as molasses batter in chacha shows he's a coward.

Opening batters are not cowards. Avg aside, this whole narrative of we don't have anyone else blah blah arguments aside.

The truth is: COWARDS SHOULD NOT OPEN., I can understand rizwan not coming out, but theirs no justification for why babar and fakhar should not be playing a super over
 
Its sad what Babar is going through. He is a humble hardworking player unnecessarily hyped by his ignorant fans and then get trolled because of it.
 
Cric_lover4487 said:
Its sad what Babar is going through. He is a humble hardworking player unnecessarily hyped by his ignorant fans and then get trolled because of it.
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Oh maaf kar bhai. Hafeez during world cup told him to take arshad Iqbal, haris, Tayyab, abrar and imad to the cup. Chacha, Shadab, Nawaz and Hasan ali would be very very weak links.

He said no to all of it. He also has a superiority complex wanting to be > everyone and has gotten aggressive with fans prior.

If he was hardworking that dad bod wouldn't be showing. He isn't getting trolled by anyone. Fans use to call him King from 2016-2021. He was everyone's favourite.

They are asking him to resign, attacking him relentlessly and calling him a disgrace both excricketers and fans because his fitness is poor, his performance is poor, his captaincy is horrible, his dosti yaari group and dhismani 11 is hella toxic, and his social media I'm going to the mall is hilarious.

It's a sad reality but this is what happens to alot of our players. Shehzad, Akmal, and various others went down this route. With babar however it hurts fans more because he's infinitely more talented and better then shehzad and Umar akmal were and no one expected this from him
 
mominsaigol said:
Oh maaf kar bhai. Hafeez during world cup told him to take arshad Iqbal, haris, Tayyab, abrar and imad to the cup. Chacha, Shadab, Nawaz and Hasan ali would be very very weak links.

He said no to all of it. He also has a superiority complex wanting to be > everyone and has gotten aggressive with fans prior.

If he was hardworking that dad bod wouldn't be showing. He isn't getting trolled by anyone. Fans use to call him King from 2016-2021. He was everyone's favourite.

They are asking him to resign, attacking him relentlessly and calling him a disgrace both excricketers and fans because his fitness is poor, his performance is poor, his captaincy is horrible, his dosti yaari group and dhismani 11 is hella toxic, and his social media I'm going to the mall is hilarious.

It's a sad reality but this is what happens to alot of our players. Shehzad, Akmal, and various others went down this route. With babar however it hurts fans more because he's infinitely more talented and better then shehzad and Umar akmal were and no one expected this from him
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In my job, i was given team lead role and after a successful project i was again demoted. I left my job. Same thing happened with Shaheen. Why would you take away his captaincy after 4 T20I matches in NZ? He was not given even 1 home series. Babar reminds me of my colleague of mine. He was sweet and polite on face but used to ***** about him to senior management behind my back. Shaheen deserves some credit to still wish to play with Babar. I wouldn't have.
 
Hahaha, superb bump, what pearls of wisdom from Shobby sahab.

Rizba buckled under the pressure of a 120 chase. :ROFLMAO:
 
Cric_lover4487 said:
In my job, i was given team lead role and after a successful project i was again demoted. I left my job. Same thing happened with Shaheen. Why would you take away his captaincy after 4 T20I matches in NZ? He was not given even 1 home series. Babar reminds me of my colleague of mine. He was sweet and polite on face but used to ***** about him to senior management behind my back. Shaheen deserves some credit to still wish to play with Babar. I wouldn't have.
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Offtopic: I am sorry for your job bro, if I was your boss I would never let that happen as I don't even let my friends work in any of my parents, aunts or uncles companies or if they are doing a job and have seniority, I still don't suggest referrals. I always tell them that hey man, I get it, but you have a website, you have LinkedIn, you apply, if you get rejected then improve your cv and skills so that no one ever dreams of not hiring you. Success must chase you not the other way around.

But back onto topic, this experience for you makes you the perfect candidate to truly understand why what Bobby did was wrong. He deserves the hate, its not like we on PP are causing the effect. People in twitter and those we cricketers who have a proper voice are.

No one told Bobby to take captaincy back and make a fool of himself. No one told Bobby to go to a mall and take India and USA game easy, no one told Bobby to develop a dad bod, No one told Bobby to deny any of what hafeez who was director at the time or any of mickey and Kristen suggestions. Heck Bobby scolded his teammates in USA game and Kristen was Like, Hello? Have you seen the way you played?

2016-2021 is a different time, At that time he was pur best player and no one deserved praise more them him, His 2019 innings is a cheetah and remarkable innings of endurance. In the same way umar akmal stunned the world in 2009.

No one told these boys to be the way they are now. Seriously just look at the comparisons of 2016 Bobby ss and 2023 Bobby ss. That fat dad bod is hilarious and he's only 30?
 
Cric_lover4487 said:
In my job, i was given team lead role and after a successful project i was again demoted. I left my job. Same thing happened with Shaheen. Why would you take away his captaincy after 4 T20I matches in NZ? He was not given even 1 home series. Babar reminds me of my colleague of mine. He was sweet and polite on face but used to ***** about him to senior management behind my back. Shaheen deserves some credit to still wish to play with Babar. I wouldn't have.
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I'm no fan of Babar's captaincy, but it seems like you are assuming alot of stuff. It's not like you are a part of the Pakistan dressing room or aware of what kind of relationships the players have with each other. In this case, I blame the employer who should have been smarter and more professional, with the foresight to understand what something like this could do to the team environment. No offence to you, but this is the Pakistan cricket team. These players are not as replaceable as me or you.
 
Rizan scored 31 off 44 with strike rate of 70
If we extrapolate that over to 20 overs, then he would have scored 84 runs if he played full 20 overs.
 
Shoaib Malik speaking during a TV show:

"I don’t know who told Babar Azam to keep the captaincy. I’ve been saying for a long time that he shouldn’t be the captain. You are a class player, and your class will only come out when you don’t have this additional responsibility. It would be better if you stayed away from the captaincy. I’ve been saying this for quite some time now”

“People have been talking about the strike rate for so long. Everyone talks about this whenever Babar Azam and Mohamad Rizwan are mentioned. That’s why you also brought in Saim Ayub, so the first six overs could be utilized, and we could get a strong base. You have tried everything”

“Yesterday, the target was 120, and you went on to improve your strike rate. You scored 13 runs off 10 balls. This shows that you went on to improve your strike rate in this match, which was a difficult pitch to bat on. The target of 120 was in front of you, and you are the captain. There are expectations, and you have also scored a lot of runs against big teams; it was a set platform for you. So if, as a leader, your mind is not working, or as a batter, it’s not working, then I don’t know when it will work. I don’t understand. I am forced to say that the core of this team, in this particular format, should raise their hand from it."​
 
Shoaib Malik in a recent interview took a dig at Babar Azam:

“Who is our [Pakistan’s] best player? Our best player is Babar Azam. I’m only talking about the top 4-5 teams in the world. If Babar Azam is to put into the Australian, England or Indian T20I team, is he a good fit? No.”

“I have been saying for a long time, please leave captaincy.”

“You are a class player, and you will only be able to show your class when you do not have additional responsibilities on you. If Babar stays away from captaincy, it will be good for him,”
 
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