Is it the right move to use Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan as openers in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024?

Is it the right move to use Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan as openers in the T20 World Cup 2024?


  • Total voters
    29
Give yourself 24 hours. We will try to make sense of this tomorrow or on Saturday
I'd wager that you would need more than 24 hours to recover from the mental trauma of the humiliation Azam Khan and Amir suffered today.

"best middle-order power hitter and best white ball bowler" :klopp
 
I'd wager that you would need more than 24 hours to recover from the mental trauma of the humiliation Azam Khan and Amir suffered today.

"best middle-order power hitter and best white ball bowler" :klopp
No I don’t

I want Pakistan to lose every time I see Babar and Rizwan at 1 and 2.

I’m going to order myself the fattest American burger and fries to celebrate tonight.
 
No I don’t

I want Pakistan to lose every time I see Babar and Rizwan at 1 and 2.

I’m going to order myself the fattest American burger and fries to celebrate tonight.
Cheese fries, we need that chacha cheese drip
 
Apparently Fakhar Zaman was in the T20i form of his life at #4. Same old Fakhar, Mr Unreliable in any batting position.
 
Apparently Fakhar Zaman was in the T20i form of his life at #4. Same old Fakhar, Mr Unreliable in any batting position.
And our hero Rizwan was going to show t20 opening was done backed off against some smooth stats.

As I said, you ain’t winning anything anyway might as well try something different. But alas, people do not listen!
 
And our hero Rizwan was going to show t20 opening was done backed off against some smooth stats.

As I said, you ain’t winning anything anyway might as well try something different. But alas, people do not listen!
To be fair Rizwan got out to a blinder catch.
 
Fakhar would have murdered the two left arm spinners, he looked in great touch. Don't know why he went for the glory shot against Ali Khan.
 
Pakistan batting selections make Indian team selection look like stroke of genius. No way, absolutely no way Pakistan team can afford both of them in the same XI if they want to compete for the titles.
 
Lol lets be honest,

Rizbar is the only opening partnership that has had success (and alot of it) in T20. It was inevitable that once the Saim Ayub experiment failed (and Saim had alot of opportunities to show his worth), we would go back there.

There is actually no viable alternative,

The age old saying in cricket is get your best players up front, the only issue with the current Pak line up is that it doesn't have the firepower to finish an innings, hence why Fakhar is batting at 4!
 
Lol lets be honest,

Rizbar is the only opening partnership that has had success (and alot of it) in T20. It was inevitable that once the Saim Ayub experiment failed (and Saim had alot of opportunities to show his worth), we would go back there.

There is actually no viable alternative,

The age old saying in cricket is get your best players up front, the only issue with the current Pak line up is that it doesn't have the firepower to finish an innings, hence why Fakhar is batting at 4!
when your competing against yourself then your going to be the winner either way
the only experiment done was saim yes he failed what we do go back to square 1
 
when your competing against yourself then your going to be the winner either way
the only experiment done was saim yes he failed what we do go back to square 1
Yes, going into a T20 world cup and with a lack of credible alternatives, thats exactly what you do: you go back to square one.
 
If these 2 chickened out to play the super over then they have no right to play the powerplay either.

Most T20I openers in the world will not be the two batsmen to walk out for their team in the Super Over.

The T20I openers will not necessarily be the most aggressive or destructive batsmen in the side.
 
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Lol lets be honest,

Rizbar is the only opening partnership that has had success (and alot of it) in T20. It was inevitable that once the Saim Ayub experiment failed (and Saim had alot of opportunities to show his worth), we would go back there.

There is actually no viable alternative,

The age old saying in cricket is get your best players up front, the only issue with the current Pak line up is that it doesn't have the firepower to finish an innings, hence why Fakhar is batting at 4!
The mistake was the order of experimentation. It should have been first try fakhar opening. If that didn’t work out, then Usman, then Saim. We would have learnt more about our possible opening combinations that way, and played them in order of most likely to succeed right now. If all that didn’t work, then you go back to Rizwan Babar opening. Saim needed far longer for experimentation because he is so young and not ready, which cost us time experimenting with other options. Fakhar unfortunately through a spanner in the works by failing opening in both PSL and succeeding at 4 internationally. Thus he wasn’t going to get a shot opening. He should have had a shot opening again right after the impressive ODI World Cup campaign however when he was in form.

What’s more if Saim had seen fakhar and Usman fail, he’d feel less pressure from competitors to take his spot.

We were just so inexplicably sure Saim would succeed. That was the issue.
 
Lol lets be honest,
Yeah let’s be honest, who in the world opens with 2 accumulators? Since this pair has returned, Pakistan batting has been an absolute shambles!
 
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Nonsense.

Most T20I openers in the world will not be the two batsmen to walk out for their team in the Super Over.

The T20I openers will not necessarily be the most aggressive or destructive batsmen in the side.

True.

However, which team in the world uses 2 anchors to open the innings?
 
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I have no doubt in my mind Fakhar bottled it in the Super over. Probably told Ifti to face first cos lately Fakhar's lucky number has been 3.

On another note, the circus of haters should be asking why their messiah Azam Khan did not start in the super over given his explosive 0(1) in the main innings.
 
Babar had to anchor the innings today after Usman Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan ALL flopped.

Hard to believe these same names are put forward as alternatives to RB opening pair.

Delusional.
 
At 26/3 no option but to stabilise the innings, otherwise Pakistan were out for less than 130.
 
What was the thought process behind 4 off 14 in the powerplay against USA?
It is not how you start, it is how you finish. 40 of the next 29 + the partnership with Shadab got Pakistan back on track.

I would give Babar a passing score for his innings today, it helped Pakistan achieve a respectable total under the circumstances, but it would have been a match winning innings had he batted through the 20 overs.

Not every T20 innings is about the SR. Value of SR depends on match situation.

Not every 44 (43) T20 innings is a bad one, but it is okay if you don’t understand.
 
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That is what Kohli and Rohit would give you as well in this World Cup on average. Would you say that India have got it all wrong and they should not be opening?

Again as I said in another thread.

The Indian team dynamics are quite different to Pakistani team.

If Kohli and Rohit are giving 40-0 in 6 overs they also have the ability to take that to 100-0 in the next 4 overs.

Babar and Rizwan's ceiling is 40-0 in 6 overs, 85 in 10 overs, 115 in 14 overs as the RRR climbs to 12 and 13 an over and then get out asking the remaining 9 batsmen to get 13 an over 65 in 30 balls to win the game.
 
That is what Kohli and Rohit would give you as well in this World Cup on average. Would you say that India have got it all wrong and they should not be opening?
Because of pitch. Dallas is a road and we didn't make 40-0 in 6 overs today.

Regardless of whatever metric you're using to defend babar, run a ball 40 is not good.

Stones during the aussie vs Oman game proved how to properly bat and finish alongside Tim David, no offence to Warner but Warner was hampering Stones and slowing things down and many aussie fans rightfully critiqued it.

Babar deserves the same critque, look how Australia handled their situation and look how Pakistan handled theirs under Bobby.
 
I have revised my opinion.

Babar is the most overrated batsmen of this decade and generation in Pakistan.

His ceiling is B and C attacks of top class teams and perhaps Uganda and Namibia and Nepal.

Even USA and Ireland trouble him like no other teams.
 
I have revised my opinion.

Babar is the most overrated batsmen of this decade and generation in Pakistan.

His ceiling is B and C attacks of top class teams and perhaps Uganda and Namibia and Nepal.

Even USA and Ireland trouble him like no other teams.
I was convinced that, at the very least, he is a prolific minnow basher.

But to perform like that against USA - who are even worse than the likes to Zimbabwe, Ireland, Netherlands etc is an absolute joke.
 
Everybody here knows that Babar and rizwan are going to open every game in this world cup. Why? Because of poor from of the replacements PCB tried.

It is not always babar's fault that he chose rizwan again. He tried Saim in 20 games where is failed and failed and failed. Fakhar has made peace with his number 4 spot as you must have heard in his pressers earlier. Fakhar is not even thinking about any other spot.
 
I have revised my opinion.

Babar is the most overrated batsmen of this decade and generation in Pakistan.

His ceiling is B and C attacks of top class teams and perhaps Uganda and Namibia and Nepal.

Even USA and Ireland trouble him like no other teams.
I strongly believe pretty soon you will come with the terms to replace "decade" with "millennium" & "generation" with "all time".
It used to be funny, I used to find it amusing, but now It's just sad & demoralising to see such a hopeless brand of mediocrity being hyped to such absurd level. He is a gimmick to con general public that's all, nothing more nothing less.
 
Everybody here knows that Babar and rizwan are going to open every game in this world cup. Why? Because of poor from of the replacements PCB tried.

It is not always babar's fault that he chose rizwan again. He tried Saim in 20 games where is failed and failed and failed. Fakhar has made peace with his number 4 spot as you must have heard in his pressers earlier. Fakhar is not even thinking about any other spot.
He is not allowed to think about any other spot. He knows damn well the RizBar worshipper brigrade can ruin his mental peace.
 
This problem started in the last tournament in Australia despite Babar and Rizwan failing in every group match Pakistan somehow managed to qualify.

This qualification meant the openers were allowed to continue opening and new people were never tried until Saim was tried recently.

Again it worked out well for Babar and Rizwan as Saim is young and not yet ready for international cricket.

But that doesn’t mean Babar and Rizwan are the best options as even a past his best Shehzad couldn’t do worse than a strike rate of 114 that Babar has opening in T20 world cups.

This time Pakistan being as lucky remains to be seen but a combined score of 53 at almost a run a ball against USA where 159 should have been chased shows how far we are behind the other teams in the first 10 overs.
 
Yeah let’s be honest, who in the world opens with 2 accumulators? Since this pair has returned, Pakistan batting has been an absolute shambles!
Lool, typical Pakistani victim mentality...the grass is always greener on the other side.

Hate to break it to you but the 'shambles' you refer to was there long before Rizwan-Babar where their at the top.

I reckon two blokes averaging 40 plus at the top of the order is the least of our problems (even more so given a lack of any credible alternative).

The bigger concern is that this was a team selected purely on merit (even Azam Khans selection was based on PSL merit) and we got trounced by USA.
 
Babar azam is the worst T20 batsman in the world right now. His innings of 44 off 43 showed his actual worth.

He is really really awful. He was 6 off 18 balls in damn powerplay.

Babar azam should be kicked out of team along with his friends.

He has to be held accountable. Enough is enough now.

There should be protests on the streets against this low IQ loser babar.
 
Babar azam is the worst T20 batsman in the world right now. His innings of 44 off 43 showed his actual worth.

He is really really awful. He was 6 off 18 balls in damn powerplay.

Babar azam should be kicked out of team along with his friends.

He has to be held accountable. Enough is enough now.

There should be protests on the streets against this low IQ loser babar.
first remove him as cuptaan ..his name shud b remembered as coward cuptan .
 
Yet he is the best bat Pakistan has.
Someone so pathetic at spin has no right to be called “best” at anything. He may be better than most of our batsmen against particular types of bowling - that’s it.

He’s world class against anything 70-85 mph - as long as there’s no massive seam or swing. That’s as good a compliment I can give him.

I used to be a believer in Babar, but his mental weakness, non existent cricketing brain has convinced me otherwise.
 
Most T20I openers in the world will not be the two batsmen to walk out for their team in the Super Over.

The T20I openers will not necessarily be the most aggressive or destructive batsmen in the side.
Most T20 teams are structured differently to ours.

Our openers are opening because they are good openers. They claim to be coming in at the start because everybody else is useless.

Unlike other teams that have openers go hard so the big hitters can keep the momentum going, our team strategy is that our openers need to bat most of the 20 overs because everybody else supposedly cannot be trusted.

However at a crunch time they decided that others actually could be trusted and their services aren't needed. You can give a pass for not coming out at the start but to send out Shadab instead of one of the alleged best batsmen in our side coming out is criminal.

So if they are unable to attack on the PP, and unwilling to attack in a super over, what exactly is their role?
 
remove them then losing to Uganda & Canada won’t be classed as shocks anymore as Haris & Ayub’s batting is on papa new guneas level.

Baba got you to a respectable 160 yesterday
 
I was convinced that, at the very least, he is a prolific minnow basher.

But to perform like that against USA - who are even worse than the likes to Zimbabwe, Ireland, Netherlands etc is an absolute joke.
USA is better then Zim, Ireland and Nedtherlands lol, they just crushed Bangladesh, their team is filled with ex b string players and they benefit from Canadian leagues
 
Most T20 teams are structured differently to ours.

Our openers are opening because they are good openers. They claim to be coming in at the start because everybody else is useless.

Unlike other teams that have openers go hard so the big hitters can keep the momentum going, our team strategy is that our openers need to bat most of the 20 overs because everybody else supposedly cannot be trusted.

However at a crunch time they decided that others actually could be trusted and their services aren't needed. You can give a pass for not coming out at the start but to send out Shadab instead of one of the alleged best batsmen in our side coming out is criminal.

So if they are unable to attack on the PP, and unwilling to attack in a super over, what exactly is their role?
Pakistan open with Babar and Rizwan because they are the two most reliable batsmen in the team in terms of scoring runs consistently.

This has nothing to do with trying to score as many as you can in the Super Over.

Pakistan have tried replacing them with so-called attacking openers and these attacking openers ended up with lower SR than Babar and Rizwan in the PP overs, hence Pakistan pivoted back to the default choice.
 
Someone so pathetic at spin has no right to be called “best” at anything. He may be better than most of our batsmen against particular types of bowling - that’s it.

He’s world class against anything 70-85 mph - as long as there’s no massive seam or swing. That’s as good a compliment I can give him.

I used to be a believer in Babar, but his mental weakness, non existent cricketing brain has convinced me otherwise.

My sentiments exactly.

But there are no alternatives.

There is no point in berating your best player when all the rest of the players are certified kak.
 
In a recent interview with a local news channel, Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has expressed his reservations about Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan opening the innings for Pakistan in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024:

"I'm glad they have made a change in the batting order. Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan can't be opening together. Both of them were not really keen to strike early, so they put somebody else in at the top. Left-hand, right-hand combination is not such a bad thing. So some good things happening there."

"Batting is still a bit of a concern. Mohammad Amir is coming into his own. So I see them just being better than Ireland to win the game. But once they get into the Super Eight, that is going to be another sort of acid test for them because they are not looking as good as some of the other teams that have gone through."
 
Former Indian Cricketer Aakash Chopra via his YouTube channel:

"I have a question for Pakistan's public and especially the selectors. Did you not know before that Babar and Rizwan play like this? If you made a player captain who plays like this and a core member of the team, then it isn't their fault, it's yours. What you failed to do is build a team around them, had you been successful in that, the results might have been different."
 
Former Indian Cricketer Aakash Chopra via his YouTube channel:

"I have a question for Pakistan's public and especially the selectors. Did you not know before that Babar and Rizwan play like this? If you made a player captain who plays like this and a core member of the team, then it isn't their fault, it's yours. What you failed to do is build a team around them, had you been successful in that, the results might have been different."
How do you build a team around them? Play openers in the middle order?
 
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