Without using any judgement - I'll take opposite of WY's suggestion .... even if it's a choice between picking T20 openers - Sharjeel or Azhar. That guy is clueless personified -
As player - he had a tango with the guy who should have been closest to him - and bad blood started when he agreed to be the bunny of Karachi block - read Javed, Shoaib, Muztaba, Tauseef, Anwar ... to oust Wasim from Captaincy.
As Captain - we have seen 2003 WC
As Coach - 3 bites is enough pie
As a Commentator - suffering every day .......
Personally, I would take Babar as opener (without Arthur's chice) because apart from him all other hitters are lefti. Also, against popular myth, I actually think Babar is a fantastic T20/ODI player - it's the other end that's filled with Azhar, Imam, Shehzad, Haris, Sarfraz, MoHa, Malik ..... exposing him.
I have analyzed his batting enough (even before that dot ball stat, one can check my post (s) - I wrote every time that his balance & range of strokes are fantastic for rotating strike). At present he is like 53/127 stats T20 player - if I take runs/innings (average is inflated for Not outs), it comes around 38/125+ stats; which in a linear plot reads like 38 of 29 at an average game - that's resulting PAK's average total to around 170 (It's inflated for last few games in NZ & against WI, but so is Babar's stats).
If I make his stats like 35 of 23 (that takes SR over 150) - net, net it's 3 runs less for 6 balls saved .... don't think this Shehzad, Sarfraz, MoHa, Malik model batting line up is good enough to take that 167 (170-3) to 190 with their dynamism for those extra 6 balls. But, if that selfish guy's average of 53, comes to 35 level at say 150 SR, this wonderful No. 1 team will struggle to play out 20 overs more often than comfort, in fact often enough for alarming .... They use similar logic in base ball as well - putting batting average in co-relation to Home runs. I heard once Alex Rod saying that, - at present, I am hitting around 50+ home runs/season with a batting average of less than 0.300 - I can try to take that average to 0.325, or even 0.350, but it'll reduce Home Run significantly - I don't think that helps us (NY Yankees) much.
Babar is fantastic asset for PAK team, best since MoYo by some distance and Arthur should protect him against vultures. He is reaching 50 at around 35-38 balls, which is 12th/13th over, and that's perfect for an opener with that average - one out of 5 innings, if he can bat for 50+ balls, his last 12-15 balls will earn 24-29 runs at least; rest is the job of the No. 6 to 10, who are quite good at instant hitting.
Fix where it needs to be fixed - Babar is fine as opener. 2 down, one to go.
