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Mohammad Rizwan should only be used as a failsafe middle-order batter in T20Is

pakistanigoneaussie

pakistanigoneaussie

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Regardless of how he does today, Rizwan should not be opening in t20s.

He will always take at least 2 overs to get going, and against better opposition will be found wanting. Him and Babar is by far the most pedestrian opening combination in world cricket and makes no sense given we have fahkar and sharjeel.

Given the lack of options we have as a keeper, he should instead play in the middle order as a fail safe if the openers fail. That is where his natural game suits him best.
 
I disagree completely. Babar, Rizwan is the best opening combo we have.
Fakhar also takes a few balls to get in.
Sharjeel is overrated and don't want him in the team
 
TheNightWatchman said:
I disagree completely. Babar, Rizwan is the best opening combo we have.
Fakhar also takes a few balls to get in.
Sharjeel is overrated and don't want him in the team
Click to expand...

there is a difference between a few balls and a couple of overs, not to mention having rizwan opening is basically throwing away the power play
 
He takes two overs to get going but the other so-called aggressors usually take two overs to be back in the pavilion.

Rizwan hasn’t put a foot wrong since getting promoted up the order and he is unnecessarily bashed because he is not hit boundaries at will like English and Indian batsmen.

He cannot do that because he is not in that league, but considering how rubbish we are and how little talent we have at our disposal, he is worth his weight in gold for us.

About time our fans except that he is not keeping Rohit, Rahul, Bairstow, Roy, Warner etc. out of the team. The alternatives are not good enough. He is better than them.
 
Sharjeel
Rizwan
Fakhar
Babar
Hafeez


Seems like this is going to be our Top + middle order in WC T20 india. Rizwan needs someone with him who scores quick and the team management seems serious about Sharjeel.
 
He’s scored another 50 against a sub par attack to ensure his place for the next 10 years
 
Rana said:
He’s scored another 50 against a sub par attack to ensure his place for the next 10 years
Click to expand...

Way to undermine his innings. Like his innings in NZ and Eng weren't proof enough that the guy can bat better than 9 other people in the team
 
Without him today, Pak don't chase it down.

No idea why you would remove him from opening, when he has major success and only needs a Sharjeel to complement him.
 
Should only be opening in T20s, even ODIs. I think Fakhar should drop to 3 in ODIs too, with Babar at 4.
 
Told you there is deep hatred for rizwan

He's one of pakistan best match winners with the bat and superb gloveman but the old women keep gossiping
 
As I said SA waiting in the wings as making Riz a top player. Well done to Riz for responding to the challenge and improving. Great match winning innings today
 
Taking 2 overs to get going opening the innings is much better than taking 2 overs in the middle overs to get going.

You cannot afford a 14 off 14 balls from overs 11-15.

Therefore Rizwan is best as an opener. And he's ending up with a 135 SR by the end of his innings.
 
We are playing two accumulators as openers in T20s. Won't work against decent sides.
 
LMAO people here are so delusional.

They think fatty can just come back to the team after selling out for a bit of money and then give performances that equal actual talented openers i.e Rohit, Bairstow, Warner

I hate to break it to you but Sharjeel never was and never will be a great or even decent opener. Rizwan can do a better job than him with the bat and contribute 1000X more in the field.

Never really got the hate for Rizwan as well. He's a humble team player who does his best no matter the situation. Sharjeel's the polar opposite
 
Rizwan was once a player who couldn’t put bat on ball.

Now he is turning into one of Pakistan most valuable player. He is playing outside of his comfort zone and continues to rise.
 
He's the perfect foil for the likes of Fakhar, Sharjeel and Haider.

I think opening slot is perfect for him.
 
Abdurmirr said:
LMAO people here are so delusional.

They think fatty can just come back to the team after selling out for a bit of money and then give performances that equal actual talented openers i.e Rohit, Bairstow, Warner

I hate to break it to you but Sharjeel never was and never will be a great or even decent opener. Rizwan can do a better job than him with the bat and contribute 1000X more in the field.

Never really got the hate for Rizwan as well. He's a humble team player who does his best no matter the situation. Sharjeel's the polar opposite
Click to expand...

Rizwan types have nothing on Sharjeel.

Sharjeel is the most destructive bat in Pakistan and closest thing we have got to Bairstows and Warners.
 
I would have him as an opener in ODIs too, I feel like he is being wasted in the middle order in ODIs, he is so good as an opener. I know ODIs is different but he can still become a good opener for us with a healthy S/R, Imam can bat at 4, as his List A stats are great. His batting position should not be tweaked in the T20Is at all.
 
Rizwan "we have a lot of power-hitters and the plan was for one of the top-order players to stay to the end"
 
Babar no.3 - he opened and completely abandoned his strengths.

He tried to powerplay and ended up mistiming, miscuing, and edging whatever he did score.

Rizwan is a busy accumulator with a reasonable power-game, ideally suited up top alongside a hack.

Babar can come in and then maintain the pace playing his game.
 
Another top, match-winning innings from Rizzy. Thought he should've opened with Fakhar though.
 
No matter what Rizwan does certain people will continue peddling hate against him. He has literally crossed 70+ 3 times in the 5 or six matches including an unbeaten hundred but nothing is enough for certain posters.

There is not a single batsman in the world that has been in this kind of red-hot form recently.
 
We have become so ignorant that Rizwan is making scores after scores after scores and delivering us wins as an opener, and here we are finding a reason to criticise him!
 
Sunzi said:
Babar no.3 - he opened and completely abandoned his strengths.

He tried to powerplay and ended up mistiming, miscuing, and edging whatever he did score.

Rizwan is a busy accumulator with a reasonable power-game, ideally suited up top alongside a hack.

Babar can come in and then maintain the pace playing his game.
Click to expand...

I sort of agree.
Baber in the opening just doesn't seem right.
He is more suited one down as he is a classy player.

You need sort of a slogger in the opening to go berserk in the power play.
 
Saj said:
Rizwan "we have a lot of power-hitters and the plan was for one of the top-order players to stay to the end"
Click to expand...

Yes makes sense and I also assumed that this would be the strategy with this combination.
 
I agree with those saying he should open with Fakhar. As a combo that could be deadly.

We all know Babar's quality, but he should be coming in at 3 in this format.
 
Rizwan’s execution and calculation could have been slightly better in the middle overs but, after Fakhar none of the batsmen got going until Faheem.

Main point is if Rizwan wouldnt have been there at the end Pak would have struggled to win it.
 
1 Babar
2 Rizwan
3 Fakhar
4 Hafeez
5 Haider
6 Sharjeel/Azam
7 All-rounder

Best combo 2 accum 5 hitters surely will work for us
 
Last edited:
Greenstorm said:
Rizwan types have nothing on Sharjeel.

Sharjeel is the most destructive bat in Pakistan and closest thing we have got to Bairstows and Warners.
Click to expand...

What a joke. Sharjeel is only destructive when facing poor opposition such as the bowling line ups of the PSL is batting paradises like NSK. Even then he needs to be given multiple changes to score big runs.

Also let’s remember that guys like Warner and Bairstow don’t just contribute with the bat but also offer something in the field. Sharjeel offers nothing except the prescence of a unfit, untalented, unmovitivated match fixer
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mohammad Rizwan "Opening the batting can be difficult but I just leave everything to the team management to decide wherever they want me to bat. I am happy to bat in whichever position in the batting order that I am required to" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SAvPAK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SAvPAK</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/FTM1ayCkPp">pic.twitter.com/FTM1ayCkPp</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1380926724133822471?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
There's a certain degree of calmness when Rizwan is at the crease, as if he is in control of the innings.

There's very little panic, the players around him know what they need to do and Rizwan seems to have things under control most of the time, which surely is a good thing.

He bats as if he has been playing international cricket for 10 years.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
No matter what Rizwan does certain people will continue peddling hate against him. He has literally crossed 70+ 3 times in the 5 or six matches including an unbeaten hundred but nothing is enough for certain posters.

There is not a single batsman in the world that has been in this kind of red-hot form recently.
Click to expand...

You could send out Sachin in Rizwan's disguise and they still wouldn't accept the guy. Those people don't deserve to win.
 
I think that Rizwan is a necessity at the top.

The real question is between Sharjeel and Fakhar. In reality, Fakhar came into the team out of nowhere.

Though I don't agree with his fitness level, these South African wickets will suit Sharjeel Khan who has a SR of about 140 in T20s. He plays well on the back foot, and on these short boundaries, I was quite surprised to see his exclusion.
 
Mamoon said:
He takes two overs to get going but the other so-called aggressors usually take two overs to be back in the pavilion.

Rizwan hasn’t put a foot wrong since getting promoted up the order and he is unnecessarily bashed because he is not hit boundaries at will like English and Indian batsmen.

He cannot do that because he is not in that league, but considering how rubbish we are and how little talent we have at our disposal, he is worth his weight in gold for us.

About time our fans except that he is not keeping Rohit, Rahul, Bairstow, Roy, Warner etc. out of the team. The alternatives are not good enough. He is better than them.
Click to expand...

Agreed.

So what's the need for Imam in ODIs if Rizwan can open for us in white ball cricket?
 
Rizwan should open for Pakistan in all forms of white cricket.

Ditch Imam and let Fakhar and Sharjeel fight for the other opening slot.

In ODIs, I'd prefer to have Fakhar opening and Sharjeel to open in T20Is.
 
Firebat said:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Mohammad Rizwan "Opening the batting can be difficult but I just leave everything to the team management to decide wherever they want me to bat. I am happy to bat in whichever position in the batting order that I am required to" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SAvPAK?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SAvPAK</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> <a href="https://t.co/FTM1ayCkPp">pic.twitter.com/FTM1ayCkPp</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) <a href="https://twitter.com/Saj_PakPassion/status/1380926724133822471?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 10, 2021</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Click to expand...

Disagree that opening can be difficult. Opening is the easiest spot for batsmen in this format. You can take a couple of overs to settle down if you have to, build your innings and also take advantage of the field restrictions. And most of the times, you are not under pressure to finish the game. Having said that, top class innings from Riz today. Deserves to open imo.
 
All we have to do is tell babar that you arent an anchor we have much better anchors in our team like rizwan and fakhar so all you have to do is play some good drives in powerplay which will allow rizwan to settle.Just tell him that we dont want you to be averaging 50 but 30 with a sr of 155 in powerplay and tbvh babar can easily do that
 
topspin said:
Agreed.

So what's the need for Imam in ODIs if Rizwan can open for us in white ball cricket?
Click to expand...

Considering our current middle-order options which are worse than associate level, you cannot push Rizwan up the order and drop Imam from the side.

If Pakistan can find 2-3 quality middle-order batsmen, there will be no need to select Imam. He is not ideal but a necessity for a team that has no middle-order.
 
pakistanigoneaussie said:
Regardless of how he does today, Rizwan should not be opening in t20s.

He will always take at least 2 overs to get going, and against better opposition will be found wanting. Him and Babar is by far the most pedestrian opening combination in world cricket and makes no sense given we have fahkar and sharjeel.

Given the lack of options we have as a keeper, he should instead play in the middle order as a fail safe if the openers fail. That is where his natural game suits him best.
Click to expand...

He is not a middle order batsman.. He can survive opening in T20s but that shouldnt be the yardstick for him to open in ODIs.. Why because against top bowling attacks with 2 new balls he will find tough get going , also in ODIs first ten overs are just the beginning unlike in 20-20 where half the match is gone...

An opener getting out after 5 overs in T20 doesnt matter much, but in ODIs mattermost..

Also he shouldnt be batting in the middle order in ODIs as they are specialist batting positions...
Compared to the world of cricket you will see players who bat at 4 where Abdv, Yuvraj, Clarke, Mahela, Kevin pietersen, etc... Even for pakistan they had Inzi and Yousuf to play that role,

Only coaches like Misbah and Waqar can think to play a wicketkeeper like Rizwan to fill that role, shows how much they know about cricket and player development.. I wouldnt mind Rizwan opening in ODIs though stated above his limitations and forecasting what he will encounter...But right now Imam and Fakhar is doing well at that , so no need for a change there... In ODIs top 3 is well settled avg 50+

However Rizwan needs to be paired with Fakhar or Sharjeel in T20s.. Babar should bat at 3.... Rizwan and Babar will not get going from the word go in 20-20s when they need to chase in excess of 200, as both are similar type of players for a t20 to open with..
 
Pakistan T20 team is pretty decent and competitive if they can get the combination right -

Sharjeel
Rizwan
Fakhar
Babar
Hafeez
Imad
Faheem
Hasan
SSA
Bowler
Bowler

That lineup looks to me as good as anybody in terms of hitting prowess at the top and also provides steady middle order if quick wickets are lost initially. And them you can keep.on changing the batting order depending on match circumstances. For example if your second wickets goes down after 10th over you may want to hold Babar and send Hafeez earlier. However quick loss of couple of wickets during powerplay Babar comes in at 4 and keeps the scoreboard ticking a decent strike rate. In case Sharjeel does not prove to be consistent, try out Haider Ali in open or Fakhar can open as well.
 
Rizwan has earned his place as T20 opener. He is T20 opener for now. These debates are useless.
 
Sunzi said:
Babar no.3 - he opened and completely abandoned his strengths.

He tried to powerplay and ended up mistiming, miscuing, and edging whatever he did score.

Rizwan is a busy accumulator with a reasonable power-game, ideally suited up top alongside a hack.

Babar can come in and then maintain the pace playing his game.
Click to expand...

Agreed, you cannot have two very similar, accumulating batsmen like Babar and Rizwan opening in T20s. One of them must drop down to 3, and that has to be Babar who was extremely poor yesterday.

Fakhar batting at 3 or 4 is overthinking things. He's opened all his career, that's his natural position. He initially debuted for Pakistan in the middle-order anyway and it didn't work out.

Fakhar, Rizwan, Babar, Hafeez and Haider is a solid top 5 and an improvement on what we took to the last T20 WC. The problem is that #6 position where it appears we'll need to go back to Imad, unless we promote Faheem.
 
If you open with Rizwan, having Babar in the top 3 is pointless, and vice versa. They’re ruining Haider by shoehorning him in the middle order. We have options available, but are stuck with a 1970s approach of having two accumulators in the top 3. We will be exposed in the T20 World Cup.
 
Markhor said:
Agreed, you cannot have two very similar, accumulating batsmen like Babar and Rizwan opening in T20s. One of them must drop down to 3, and that has to be Babar who was extremely poor yesterday.

Fakhar batting at 3 or 4 is overthinking things. He's opened all his career, that's his natural position. He initially debuted for Pakistan in the middle-order anyway and it didn't work out.

Fakhar, Rizwan, Babar, Hafeez and Haider is a solid top 5 and an improvement on what we took to the last T20 WC. The problem is that #6 position where it appears we'll need to go back to Imad, unless we promote Faheem.
Click to expand...

Fakhar has done well at 3 for LQ. He can be decent against spin during middle overs.

Babar should always open in T20 cricket imo and its better to have Sharjeel alongside him than Rizwan.
 
Years late it still bugs me to see him open. He is hardly ever stable enough on the crease to hit big

Will be even more painful on large australi grounds
 
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