Has Pakistan finally found an answer to replacing Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam in T20I?

[GoUgandaCranes]

Saim and Fakhar have replaced the opening pair. I feel they are good & should be persisted with until Naeem is ready to take the mantle. .

Haris is number 3 & while on his day he's good, generally he's an erratic player. I also feel he is not a reliable keeper, he has moments of magic and a few good leaps and dives but overall he's not a safe keeper.

There's a big issue with Saim at the moment as his form just hasn't clicked post injury. Until he starts performing people will continue to ask for comeback of Babar. Haris needs to keep better because he'll never be a consistent batter. If he keeps like how he kept today, he won't be in the team.

Do we need RizBar in T20? no.
Will people stop saying that they should make a comeback? Also no.

 

[Mamoon]

Saim
Rizwan (wk)
Babar (c)
Fakhar
Hasan Nawaz
Mohammad Nawaz
Khushdil Shah
Faheem
Shaheen
Rauf
Abrar

This team beats the team that played today 9/10 times.

 

[Rana]

Saim
Rizwan (wk)
Babar (c)
Fakhar
Hasan Nawaz
Mohammad Nawaz
Khushdil Shah
Faheem
Shaheen
Rauf
Abrar

This team beats the team that played today 9/10 times.

This team loses to USA 9/10 times too.

 

[mominsaigol]

This team loses to USA 9/10 times too.

I am wondering what agha did to be excluded from this list lol

How did nawaz make it to the playing 11 over Agha?

 

[Rana]

I am wondering what agha did to be excluded from this list lol

How did nawaz make it to the playing 11 over Agha?

Probably didn’t s… Babar off

 

[RidiculousMan]

Some days one side has the upper hand, the next day another. But hear it clear that the end of all the battles. The new generation will prevail in this format.

 

[Mamoon]

This team loses to USA 9/10 times too.

I don’t think so, I didn’t pick Amir.

 

[Mamoon]

I am wondering what agha did to be excluded from this list lol

How did nawaz make it to the playing 11 over Agha?

That is not my best XI. Notice that I picked the useless Rauf as well and also Khushdil who is poor. I was making the point that even a weak Pakistan team but with Babar, Rizwan and Shaheen will comfortably beat the so-called modern and merit-based Pakistan team that got owned yesterday.

 

[Mamoon]

@mominsaigol

This is my best T20I for Pakistan as I stated few weeks back. This team will thrash the one that played yesterday.

Rizwan +
Saim
Babar
Fakhar
Agha
H. Nawaz
Faheem
Shaheen (c)
M. Wasim
H. Ali
Abrar

Agha doesn’t deserve to be T20I captain ahead of the 3x PSL winning captain.

 

[mominsaigol]

@mominsaigol

This is my best T20I for Pakistan as I stated few weeks back. This team will thrash the one that played yesterday.

Rizwan +
Saim
Babar
Fakhar
Agha
H. Nawaz
Faheem
Shaheen (c)
M. Wasim
H. Ali
Abrar

Agha doesn’t deserve to be T20I captain ahead of the 3x PSL winning captain.

Sufiyan > Abrar
Salman Mirza bowled well and id like to see him play a few more games
Fakhar should open with saim, Babar at 3 and rizzu at 4 if he is to be included.

 

[Mamoon]

Sufiyan > Abrar
Salman Mirza bowled well and id like to see him play a few more games
Fakhar should open with saim, Babar at 3 and rizzu at 4 if he is to be included.

Rizwan has been more successful than Fakhar has an opener. Fakhar has been more successful than him as a middle-order batsman.

So it doesn’t make sense to not play them at positions where they have been relatively more prolific.

 

[mominsaigol]

Rizwan has been more successful than Fakhar has an opener. Fakhar has been more successful than him as a middle-order batsman.

So it doesn’t make sense to not play them at positions where they have been relatively more prolific.

Rizwan is too slow. Playing a 50 of 40 in t20 is equally harmful as getting all out on 140.

 

[Rana]

I don’t think so, I didn’t pick Amir.

Zimbu is enough to ensure it

 

[mominsaigol]

Zimbu is enough to ensure it

Bangladesh pitches are toss dependant.

Aus and England struggled here in test cricket.

 

[Rana]

Bangladesh pitches are toss dependant.

Aus and England struggled here in test cricket.

According to Zimbu fans, him and Rizwan will bat like Lara and Ponting here apparently.

But then the same Zimbabar and Legwan bat like clowns on decent tracks scoring 40-0 in 6 overs of powerplay

 

[mominsaigol]

According to Zimbu fans, him and Rizwan will bat like Lara and Ponting here apparently.

But then the same Zimbabar and Legwan bat like clowns on decent tracks scoring 40-0 in 6 overs of powerplay

It's cause people are rewriting history. It's akin to people wanting Johnny Bairstow and Jos Butler in the test team not realising that in current form Crawley, Jamie Smith and pope are better then they are at present.

Bairstow prime is done and dusted. People are still living in 2021 not realising that its been 2 years since babar has actually played a match winning innings or scored a century.

His best knocks have been chasing a low total vs Australia and that 94 of 50 in PSl. Rizwan.has also been badly out of touch post 2023

 

[Mamoon]

The pitch excuse is embarrassing. Bangladesh chased it in 15 overs without any fuss.

There was no excuse for this “modern” batting lineup to not have scored 140+

 

[shaz619]

I rather lose here then bring back the two numpties who have embraced their country repeatedly, give this new crop as long a rope and multiple ICC tournies, then we can decide if we are thick enough to take 20 steps backwards.

 

[mominsaigol]

I rather lose here then bring back the two numpties who have embraced their country repeatedly, give this new crop as long a rope and multiple ICC tournies, then we can decide if we are thick enough to take 20 steps backwards.

I wouldn't mind Babar coming back if Saim continues to flunk and Shabzada doesnt land the stick.

Rizwan hell no, a limited test player doesnt have a place in t20

 

[shaz619]

I wouldn't mind Babar coming back if Saim continues to flunk and Shabzada doesnt land the stick.

Rizwan hell no, a limited test player doesnt have a place in t20

Babar has had enough chances, I would give someone else a go ahead of him if these new blokes are not delivering. Babar has not done anything in international cricket for a very very long time; he needs to spend a significant period in domestic cricket to prove his salt again.

 

[ads101]

Think it was a mistake to drop Farhan. Farhan did well a few matches ago and in PSL. Saim and Farhan are likely the future.

There has been too many different combinations changes. You’ve got to give an opening pair time. Would have gone with Saim and Farhan and be done with it, give them a long run.

 

[mominsaigol]

Babar has had enough chances, I would give someone else a go ahead of him if these new blokes are not delivering. Babar has not done anything in international cricket for a very very long time; he needs to spend a significant period in domestic cricket to prove his salt again.

I'm speaking from a neutral perspective. Out of form babar has still been better then current Saim Ayub.

Shabzada Farhan needs to now make a mark.

Other option is to bring Haris at opening but I prefer Haris to stick no 3

 

[Mamoon]

Some people are absolutely seething because their agenda has been destroyed. Beautiful.

This reality check was always on the cards. I had warned you.

 

[Rana]

Some people are absolutely seething because their agenda has been destroyed. Beautiful.

This reality check was always on the cards. I had warned you.

Agenda was destroyed when??

Who has the fastest T20 hundred for Pakistan????

 

[shaz619]

I'm speaking from a neutral perspective. Out of form babar has still been better then current Saim Ayub.

Shabzada Farhan needs to now make a mark.

Other option is to bring Haris at opening but I prefer Haris to stick no 3

Pak could give him a go but it would be a backward step in my view, we’ve been here before and we’d see him fail yet again in next years WT20, unfortunately he just isn’t the player Pakistan want him to be, we’ve been here before where after some panic these two come back and do ok against these teams then embarrass us in ICC events. Babar should use some time away from the game and do a bit of soul searching to understand the requirements of modern cricket if he wants to play in all formats. He should be playing significant amounts of FC cricket & working with specialist coaches to exploit his full potential and change his diabolical attitude.

All this excessive pampering & bas Pakistan mai babar eh hai bs has gone to his head and also his choice of mates hasn’t been good either, worse still, he made that a big part of his game in a team sport where you need to always maintain professionalism.

 

[shaz619]

There will be such defeats along the way, it happened a lot with Morgan’s England to, but if you have the right vision/strategy in place and back a group of players who are positive about executing the requirements of modern cricket in 2025, then stay the course and results will come. Cricket is always evolving in Kirsten’s own words, you need to be flexible more then ever and have a team which is open-minded / on the same page when it comes to matching the intensity of the elite international T20 teams.

 

[Rana]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1653024405721604096

 

[Rana]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1653007677096689666

 

[RizwanT20Champ]

Our legacy will slowly be ruined if we keep losing to teams like BD. For a once great cricketing nation that had likes of Wasim, Waqar, Fazal Mahmood, Qadir, Inzamam, Miandad, Mohammad Yousuf to look up to to now be losing to the likes of BD....future generation will lose interest in cricket. It is very important that we revive our legacy and that can only happen with wins.

 

[Aqib_mustafa]

Bangladesh pitches are toss dependant.

Aus and England struggled here in test cricket.

Ya so true my bro people are forgetting england and Australia lost badly on these pitches these are same pitches which aqib made its toss dependent and bangladesh at home knows these pitches inside out an pak batsmen like pace on the ball where they can hit like we have seen in pakistan where bangladesh had no answers got whitewashed in t20s

 

[RizwanT20Champ]

According to Zimbu fans, him and Rizwan will bat like Lara and Ponting here apparently.

But then the same Zimbabar and Legwan bat like clowns on decent tracks scoring 40-0 in 6 overs of powerplay

Let's not forget this bro.

 

[RizwanT20Champ]

Ya so true my bro people are forgetting england and Australia lost badly on these pitches these are same pitches which aqib made its toss dependent and bangladesh at home knows these pitches inside out an pak batsmen like pace on the ball where they can hit like we have seen in pakistan where bangladesh had no answers got whitewashed in t20s

We cannot be making excuses after losing to a clown side like BD.

 

[ads101]

I'm speaking from a neutral perspective. Out of form babar has still been better then current Saim Ayub.

Shabzada Farhan needs to now make a mark.

Other option is to bring Haris at opening but I prefer Haris to stick no 3

You need some stability at top to have a good platform. Without it, it puts pressure on the middle order. People scream about opening powerplay, but I think the real problem was acceleration once set. Particularly in Rizwan and Babar’s case.

Fakhar’s issue is he isn’t reliable early on. So he doesn’t produce that stability. Excellent accelerating but he doesn’t have the time he does in ODIs. We should have given him opening chances years back, but he’s 35 and hasn’t cemented a place in top order feels time to move on. Playing a 35 year old on potential doesn’t seem right. I’d much rather take a go on Farhan and Saim now.

I don’t think we should go back to Babar yet. I think his head’s gone sadly, and will take a while to get back in form. Just like what happened to Malik.

Farhan and Saim at least in domestic have shown to be consistently performing at decent strike rates. They could be those openers we need. I’d just stick with that duo for a long time now. I don’t think there are many other options right now, might as well back. We need to find one consistent opening pair that put on stands. It doesn’t need to be Rizwan and Babar. But we need to choose to back one pair.

Haris has potential to strike quicker but I think his game is too risky to be a consistent performer up top. I think he’s fine middle order.

I think this whole obsession with having a dasher up top is wrong. Nearly every game we seem to have trouble lasting full overs, slowing down at middle at end. We are literally slowing down in order to make up for lack of batting stability.

 

[Mamoon]

Thank you Bangladesh for saving us from noise pollution. This rubbish team will be badly exposed in the next 12 months.