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Which will be the ideal opening pair for Pakistan in T20Is?

Which will be the ideal opening pair for Pakistan in T20Is?


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MenInG

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The Babar-Rizwan partnership is close to be being broken in the NZ T20I series but which pair is the ideal one for Pakistan looking ahead to the future?
 
Why is there no option for Sahibzada Farhan and Saim? Both are in the squad.
 
Rizwan and Babar Azam.

If either of them doesn't open, then he shouldn't be in the team altogether. Both of them are useless down the order.

This decision of making Babar bat at 3 is ridiculous. He should be dropped from the team if he isn't opening.

The only way Babar at 3 works is if Saim gets out very early and Babar basically becomes an opener. If Babar has to come in during the 8th over of the innings, he just cannot strike at minimum 130 from ball 1 which is what is required.

You just have to see Steven Smith. Absolutely useless player down the order for Australia in T20s but when he decided to open the innings for Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash, he smashed centuries.
 
Anything not involving RizBar farce. But first ensure these two pretenders don't get to open as if it's their birthright, hell best solution would be to bench them both.
 
Fakhar and Saim.
Haris and Fakhar.
Haris and Saim.

I think one of these 3 combinations should be used. I personally vote for "Fakhar and Saim".
 
Rizwan and Saim to open. Fakhar to come down the order as he can start hitting from ball 1 when the ball is old but he takes his time when the ball is new so no need to waste him up the order.
 
Please add Fakhar Zaman and Sharjeel Khan option, and put ‘hell yeah’ in brackets next to their name
 
I will pick Rizwan and Saim as they both will bring left right combination to trouble bowlers initially.

Babar at 1 down and after that Fakhar Zaman.
 
Why is Saim Ayub and Haris not an option? Or is this question limited to this series?

Because that would be my choice. Give them a run of 10 games together.
 
For this series i woild bave gone Farhaan and Saim

In future series i would go Haris and Saim
 
Both are young and new to international cricket, so I think any experienced player like babar or rizwan must open with one of them.
They are not kids, they have been able to hold their own in these positions for their domestic sides. They don’t need one of Babar or Rizwan to hold their hands.

Everyone in Pakistan has been holding the hand of these two (Babar and Rizwan) to be useful
 
I didn’t see the potential ATG SharjFakh combo at the bottom…

Would’ve been the closest we came to the Afridi - Nazir opening combo.
 
Both are young and new to international cricket, so I think any experienced player like babar or rizwan must open with one of them.
We have been playing pathetic players like Hasan Ali and Faheem Ashraf for the sake of experience . No, we need young exciting talent with six hitting abilities for T20 .
 
If you are talking about the current series then I will go with Mohammad Rizwan and Saim Ayub combo. In general, Riz Babar will be the one incase this experiment fails.
 
I will go with Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan, considering their bombastic form in the National T20 Cup 2023.
Do you think Saim Ayub and Sahibzada Farhan will become successful opening pair in T20I for Pakistan and Pakistani fans will forget the opening pair of Babar and Rizwan?
 
Tough to say definitively because we've only seen Babar/Rizwan and the success of any other combination cannot be said.

That said I would love to see Saim and Babar open together at least once.
 
Why is Sharjeel’s name on this list? Sharjeel will never play cricket for Pakistan ever again.

Apparently constant humiliation and embarrassment isn’t enough for this message to be driven home.

In any case it doesn’t matter as the only thing his supporters have left are fantasies and dreams.

The reality is that Mohammad Rizwan is most likely to be the one who walks out to face the first ball tomorrow.

Good will always prevail over evil. Justice has been done to Sharjeel’s failed career.
 
Tough to say definitively because we've only seen Babar/Rizwan and the success of any other combination cannot be said.

That said I would love to see Saim and Babar open together at least once.
We have played many opening combinations and different openers in the past. Sharjeel. Nazir, fakhar, shehzad, Hafeez, Kamran the list is endless. The only one who perhaps didn’t get a long enough run to prove himself was Sharjeel, and that was down to him fixing and getting himself kicked out of the team. All of them failed.

Rizwan and Babar were the first opening combination to succeed for Pakistan In t20s. Took about 10 years to achieve this. That is why. And having an opening partnership you can rely on and set platforms with is crucial. In the past I’ve seen these brittle batting line ups where anyone can get out at any time, and we are either scared of getting bowled out, or reduce our run rate to compensate being a lot of wickets down (hence the poor SR of the other batsmen too).

Thats why fakhar doesn’t even complain in t20s about his position. He knows he was given a lot of games as opener and failed. He is lucky to be even in the team with that record. He knows he should have done better. And yet somehow fans think Rizwan and Babar are to blame for Fakhars failings (or even Sharjeel’s ouster from the team which was self inflicted).

Id open with fakhar and Rizwan and see if fakhar performs or not this time or not. If he doesn’t replace with Saim. There’s no guarantee either of these two will even succeed, I wouldn’t get rid of both of our openers at the same time.
 
As long as you have these openers,

Guys like Sharjeel will forever remain in the imagination of true Pakistan cricket fans. Believe that.
 
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Ayub & Haris bat like they are not international material. Bowlers will eat them alive below average coming from domestic.

Just stick with baba & rizwan at least they can hold a bat.
 
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We have played many opening combinations and different openers in the past. Sharjeel. Nazir, fakhar, shehzad, Hafeez, Kamran the list is endless. The only one who perhaps didn’t get a long enough run to prove himself was Sharjeel, and that was down to him fixing and getting himself kicked out of the team. All of them failed.

Rizwan and Babar were the first opening combination to succeed for Pakistan In t20s. Took about 10 years to achieve this. That is why. And having an opening partnership you can rely on and set platforms with is crucial. In the past I’ve seen these brittle batting line ups where anyone can get out at any time, and we are either scared of getting bowled out, or reduce our run rate to compensate being a lot of wickets down (hence the poor SR of the other batsmen too).

Thats why fakhar doesn’t even complain in t20s about his position. He knows he was given a lot of games as opener and failed. He is lucky to be even in the team with that record. He knows he should have done better. And yet somehow fans think Rizwan and Babar are to blame for Fakhars failings (or even Sharjeel’s ouster from the team which was self inflicted).

Id open with fakhar and Rizwan and see if fakhar performs or not this time or not. If he doesn’t replace with Saim. There’s no guarantee either of these two will even succeed, I wouldn’t get rid of both of our openers at the same time.
I’m sure Imam and Shan will also ‘work’ for Pakistan too the way you want it to work.
 
Why is Sharjeel’s name on this list? Sharjeel will never play cricket for Pakistan ever again.

Apparently constant humiliation and embarrassment isn’t enough for this message to be driven home.

In any case it doesn’t matter as the only thing his supporters have left are fantasies and dreams.

The reality is that Mohammad Rizwan is most likely to be the one who walks out to face the first ball tomorrow.

Good will always prevail over evil. Justice has been done to Sharjeel’s failed career.
How is wanting Sharjeel Khan to play for Pakistan a defeat of good?

Is he Sauron? And Babar+Rizwan are trying to destroy the ring in Mount Doom?
 
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Sharejeel's name up there is an insult to all the hardworking non-corrupt players in domestic. We talk about purging of match-fixing and spot-fixing from Pakistan's cricket yet we are at the same time giving convicted fixers spotlight.
 
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Sharejeel's name up there is an insult to all the hardworking non-corrupt players in domestic. We talk about purging of match-fixing and spot-fixing from Pakistan's cricket yet we are at the same time giving convicted fixers spotlight.
He is better than Babar and Rizwan as a T20 opener
 
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I’m sure Imam and Shan will also ‘work’ for Pakistan too the way you want it to work.
Shan and Imam are nowhere near those two. Their international record is far poorer as is their international.

The only guy comparable is Fakhar. Who has both performances over many PSL and ODI success. Yet you can not deny Fakhar had lots of opportunities as opener to do something. Others never got that type of run despite failing, and he only got it due to his ODI exploits. He deserves another shot but there is no guarantee he’ll perform when he’s been failing in t20s year after year regardless of position. We hope he will but there is no guarantee. Rizwan and Babar have actually showed some type of performance, which is why their records and ranking far outstrip the rest of our batsmen.
 
He is better than Babar and Rizwan as a T20 opener
Talent yes. Performance no, you can’t be with an average of 22.5 SR 133. And that’s when he was in form, he‘d be worse than that now likely since he can’t even get into PSL. That was ironically his peak performance.

Which is why talent and performance isn’t the same.
 
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Talent yes. Performance no, you can’t be with an average of 22.5 SR 133. And that’s when he was in form, he‘d be worse than that now likely since he can’t even get into PSL. That was ironically his peak performance.

Which is why talent and performance isn’t the same.
You pick Fakhar cans Sharjeel for what they can do on their best day. Not what they can do regularly against Zimbabwe or B string bowling attacks

I have the mindset of the elite SENA white ball sides

I know what I am saying when I want this pair for Pakistan.
 
Sharejeel's name up there is an insult to all the hardworking non-corrupt players in domestic. Admins please remove it. We talk about purging of match-fixing and spot-fixing from Pakistan's cricket yet here we are at the same time giving convicted fixers spotlight.a

Agreed.

Sharjeel doesn't deserve to be there on any basis.

You'd simply have to be deluded to think Sharjeel could ever play for Pakistan again, hence he is not a realistic option.

Next we'll see people stating Javed Miandad - Ramiz Raja is their preferred combo.
 
Shan and Imam are nowhere near those two. Their international record is far poorer as is their international.

The only guy comparable is Fakhar. Who has both performances over many PSL and ODI success. Yet you can not deny Fakhar had lots of opportunities as opener to do something. Others never got that type of run despite failing, and he only got it due to his ODI exploits. He deserves another shot but there is no guarantee he’ll perform when he’s been failing in t20s year after year regardless of position. We hope he will but there is no guarantee. Rizwan and Babar have actually showed some type of performance, which is why their records and ranking far outstrip the rest of our batsmen.

Sorry, I don't wanna be in this argument.

But the only reason Babar and Rizwan have done well is that they have been told to go out and bat at their own pace against "B" string bowlers.

And the rest of the team has had to adjust to their slow poke batting.
 
So Saim and Rizwan will be the new opening pair against New Zealand in the first T20 match of the series today. All speculation about fakhar or Riz babar duo is gonna die.
 
Sorry, I don't wanna be in this argument.

But the only reason Babar and Rizwan have done well is that they have been told to go out and bat at their own pace against "B" string bowlers.

And the rest of the team has had to adjust to their slow poke batting.
That was basically the mantra & recipe of their "success" in 2021 wc. Fakhar, Malik, Asif, Imad, Hafeez everyone was instructed to go as hard as possible so that in the meantime the pretending 🐐 twins can take all the time in the world & lay "solid foundation". Heavenly pair indeed.
 
Sharjeel is finished now.. we need to find who could be the future of Pakistan so i would rather pick Saim Ayub along with Fakhar Zaman.
One last dance

One last hurrah. Believe in Sharjeel

Believe in the Sharjeel/Fakhar combo
 
One last dance

One last hurrah. Believe in Sharjeel

Believe in the Sharjeel/Fakhar combo
he couldnt do any sort of hurrah in SPL so how do u expect him to do wonders at international level? :)

He is way too overweight now... I don't think he is interested in playing international cricket anymore.
 
he couldnt do any sort of hurrah in SPL so how do u expect him to do wonders at international level? :)

He is way too overweight now... I don't think he is interested in playing international cricket anymore.
Right now, no Pakistani player is in any kind of impressive form.

Babar, Rizwan and Saim have not been impressive in BPL. Ahmed Shahzad started well but he’s back to his old ways too.

So I recon all Pakistani players are pretty much out of nick. That’s why I say, follow the England cricket team mantra: pick players for what they can do on their best days.

An ICC tournament is a different animal. The atmosphere and pressure is something else. You never know who can come off and take you through to the next round. Pakistan advanced to two knock out stages because of maverick performances by Asif Ali and Mohammad Harris.

Just back these players. Sharjeel was a beast in the 2016 T20 World Cup. He is a game changer if he is in sync physically and mentally on his day.
 
Right now, no Pakistani player is in any kind of impressive form.

Babar, Rizwan and Saim have not been impressive in BPL. Ahmed Shahzad started well but he’s back to his old ways too.

So I recon all Pakistani players are pretty much out of nick. That’s why I say, follow the England cricket team mantra: pick players for what they can do on their best days.

An ICC tournament is a different animal. The atmosphere and pressure is something else. You never know who can come off and take you through to the next round. Pakistan advanced to two knock out stages because of maverick performances by Asif Ali and Mohammad Harris.

Just back these players. Sharjeel was a beast in the 2016 T20 World Cup. He is a game changer if he is in sync physically and mentally on his day.
No doubt, Sharjeel was a match winner and unfortunately we never used him properly when he was on his peak, he was more like a pakistan's jayasuriya. But now instead of going back I would prefer young blood to come up.

Someone like Khawaja Nafay what a talent that guy is looking like. I don't know whether he has been picked in the PSL or not but i am very curious to see him playing in the future for pakistan... would love to see him open with Saim, a deadly combo.
 
No doubt, Sharjeel was a match winner and unfortunately we never used him properly when he was on his peak, he was more like a pakistan's jayasuriya. But now instead of going back I would prefer young blood to come up.

Someone like Khawaja Nafay what a talent that guy is looking like. I don't know whether he has been picked in the PSL or not but i am very curious to see him playing in the future for pakistan... would love to see him open with Saim, a deadly combo.
Look bro

Pakistan need to stop using these ICC tournaments as development programs. They need to stop hoping for some young kid to just come through and set the world a blaze. It’s not working for them at the moment. This is why even from the very beginning when it became clear that Babar and Rizwan will be broken up, I haven’t been enforcing the Saim Ayub agenda. Even now I think Sharjeel is a more dangerous, reliable and more experienced player than him. He’s definitely more powerful than Saim.

Just keep it safe and let him and Fakhar deal with the issue. They will do the job. I truly believe that.
 
Muhammed Harris should be opening.
Yeah, if you want to play him in a team his ideal position is as an opener where he can provide u momentum in the PP.

Maybe we can try Fakhar or Saim with him so there will be a left-right combo.
 
Would loved to have seen Saim Ayub and Mohammad Haris opening all 5 matches in NZ, more realistically I think Saim and one of Babar/Rizwan would be a decent combo
 
Saim has been a disappointment so far. His performance in BPL was like a tail-ender batting. Fakahr should move up the order to give him another chance. Rizwan is going nowhere so he is going to open anyways. Babar at 3. Haris at 4.
 
Would loved to have seen Saim Ayub and Mohammad Haris opening all 5 matches in NZ, more realistically I think Saim and one of Babar/Rizwan would be a decent combo
Haris is a single dimesnional player more like a haider ali, i think Saim Ayub needs any experienced player with him to bat so i will prefer Fakhar Zaman along with Saim Ayub.
 
Ramiz Raja's views on Pakistan's opening pair conundrum:

"Our opening pair is unsettled, he [Saim Ayub] plays with his technique in the first two matches, then if he flops he tries to change his technique in the third match which makes things even tougher for him. He will get more confidence with more success he achieves. Babar was like that in the initial years, he had the talent but he lacked confidence and experience,"

"Pakistan should open with Babar and Rizwan. I feel that it is their best chance. My suggestion is that the Pakistan team should use the talent that they currently have in the best possible way. Put the combination that gives you partnership, and takes the match to an end. Babar and Rizwan opening is a safe option it is a tried and tested combination. As of now, Pakistan lose a couple of wickets in the opening two-three overs which doesn't allow momentum to build,"
 
100% Sharjeel and Fakhar

Stop wasting your time with wannabes

Let the real OGs open

The Game and 50 cent
 
100% Sharjeel and Fakhar

Stop wasting your time with wannabes

Let the real OGs open

The Game and 50 cent
We have to wait for 10 months to see this great combination in the Ramadan tournament
 
We have to wait for 10 months to see this great combination in the Ramadan tournament
Of course guys like you view Babar and Rizwan as Ferarris….not realising they are Vauxhall Corsas.
 
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Why is there no option for Sahibzada Farhan and Saim? Both are in the squad.

I hope Farhan gets picked for some internationals soon to see how he fares at that level, but both he and Saim need to show more consistency. I'm a huge fan of Saim Ayub, but he's failing more times than he's scoring if we are honest.
 
100% Sharjeel and Fakhar

Stop wasting your time with wannabes

Let the real OGs open

The Game and 50 cent

Just last week Sharjeel made 50+ at a S/R of 160+ in a successful chase of a 300+ score against an international quality bowling attack.

He is the most equipped Batsman in Pakistan to exploit the PP and is a left hander to boot.

I don’t know why he is not in any of the team plans, I don’t know if he took a bite from Babar or Riswan’s Biryani, they’ve taken it personally.

If England picked Batsman purely on averages, they would never have won the ODI or T20 World Cup’s.

Pakistan don’t seem to understand the purpose of Sharjeel and that also stems from being out of touch with modern Batting.
 
England bought Alex Hales back into the fold and won a World Cup, PCB; grow up lad
 
Of course guys like you view Babar and Rizwan as Ferarris….not realising they are Vauxhall Corsas.
The problem with Sharjeel is he is an old broken down Ferrari. He’s old, poor form, poor fitness and fixing doesn’t help. Even a Vauxhall Corsa will beat a Ferrari that is broken down.

The other option is Saim who has huge potential but not developed yet. Fakhar doesn’t time the ball as well as Sharjeel is early on, so won’t give an aggressive start that people are dreaming of, but accelerate once set. Sharjeel if in his theoretical prime (which he has never been) would.

Either way we don’t win, no perfect solution. Probably why we are so desperate on Saim performing as he’s the only one with actual potential to drastically improve out of all these guys I’ve mentioned and babar and Rizwan.
 
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Even a Vauxhall Corsa will beat a Ferrari that is broken down.
How much will you get trying to sell a Corsa? Peanuts

The Ferrari when refined is still going to be resold for big money.

Pick the right players. Not the wannabes
 
Sharejeel's name up there is an insult to all the hardworking non-corrupt players in domestic.
The suggestion of Babar and Rizwan opening is an insult to cricket itself. No one is crying about your suggestion, therefore…know your role..
 
I think people need to stop thinking about Sharjeel and Fakhar now. Sharjeel isn't coming back into the team, what with the entire Lahore sticking out of his belly. He hasn't been serious about playing professional cricket since his ban, so the same posters criticizing Azam's fitness need to stop being hypocrites and ask for Sharjeel.

Fakhar's opening numbers are mediocre and his strike-rate isn't any better than Babar or Rizwan.

Saim is the only one I have high hopes for, and despite his average performances so far, he has the most potential to play modern cricket in our entire setup currently.

Rizwan is useless at number 3, so Saim and Rizwan to open should be the short term solution. Babar slots in at number 3, with Fakhar to follow at 4.
 
I think people need to stop thinking about Sharjeel and Fakhar now. Sharjeel isn't coming back into the team, what with the entire Lahore sticking out of his belly. He hasn't been serious about playing professional cricket since his ban, so the same posters criticizing Azam's fitness need to stop being hypocrites and ask for Sharjeel.

Fakhar's opening numbers are mediocre and his strike-rate isn't any better than Babar or Rizwan.

Saim is the only one I have high hopes for, and despite his average performances so far, he has the most potential to play modern cricket in our entire setup currently.

Rizwan is useless at number 3, so Saim and Rizwan to open should be the short term solution. Babar slots in at number 3, with Fakhar to follow at 4.
Yeah no I will keep suggesting the right players for the right position. And I will keep suggesting you pick players for what they can deliver on their best day.

Sharjeel and Fakhar

That’s the closest you will get to Salt+Butler, or Head+Warner, or Jaiswal+Rohit

Just let them play, and watch them tear the house down.
 
Yeah no I will keep suggesting the right players for the right position. And I will keep suggesting you pick players for what they can deliver on their best day.

Sharjeel and Fakhar

That’s the closest you will get to Salt+Butler, or Head+Warner, or Jaiswal+Rohit

Just let them play, and watch them tear the house down.
I think the question becomes whether you want players who can give you 2 decent performances out of 10, or 8 decent performances out of 10.

Sharjeel and Fakhar won't make a difference to the team. They will both get out in the power play more often than not.

Salt-Buttler, Head-Warner, Jaiswal-Rohit are proper batsmen, and rarely will you see both get out in the first six overs of the game.
 
I think the question becomes whether you want players who can give you 2 decent performances out of 10, or 8 decent performances out of 10.

Sharjeel and Fakhar won't make a difference to the team. They will both get out in the power play more often than not.

Salt-Buttler, Head-Warner, Jaiswal-Rohit are proper batsmen, and rarely will you see both get out in the first six overs of the game.
Why are you fearing failure?

It’s not like our consistency in failed ploy has resulted in anything.

You want Pakistan to play a fearless brand of cricket but you are afraid of 2/10 failures. You can’t snail your way to World Cup glory. It doesn’t work in this day and age
 
You cannot be immortal if you are afraid to die.

Guys like Fin Allen and Fraser McGurk…these players leave behind an era of domination, not a few weeks or a few seasons of legacy. History remembers these types of players because they chose to embrace death every game instead of a cowards life.
 
100% Sharjeel and Fakhar

Stop wasting your time with wannabes

Let the real OGs open

The Game and 50 cent
I think 50 cent is an apt name for Sharjeel. That would be his base price if he enters the IPL auction.
 
Babar and Rizwan remind me of Joaquin Pheonix’s role in Gladiator

Coward kings handed rule and authority.
 
Pick anyone except for Saim Ayub. The guy is highly unreliable. I rather play Asif Ali.
 
Fakhar Zaman reminds me of Russel Crowe’s character in Gladiator

Babar and Rizwan remind me of Joaquin Pheonix
 
Why are you fearing failure?

It’s not like our consistency in failed ploy has resulted in anything.

You want Pakistan to play a fearless brand of cricket but you are afraid of 2/10 failures. You can’t snail your way to World Cup glory. It doesn’t work in this day and age
It's not fear of failure, it's certainty.

Let me put it this way for you to understand. Pakistan hides behind its bowling attack for success, that's an established fact no one here will deny. The bowling does well, we compete; the bowling gets slaughtered, we look below average.

The bowling needs some runs on the board to defend, or know what sort of target their team can chase if they are bowling first.

With Sharjeel and Fakhar, 2/10 failures means that they you don't even give your stronger suit the chance to win you many games. When your team is two down consistently in the power play, regardless of the run-rate, the pressure will be tremendous on the rest of the batters coming in. It's worse than having Babar and Rizwan prod along to 7-8 RPO, then the hitters can takeover.

That's my take.

The batsmen you mentioned in the earlier post are world-class, which Pakistan frankly don't have in this format.
 
It's not fear of failure, it's certainty.
What’s there to be uncertain about? You ‘certainly’ know you are not good enough with Babar or Rizwan playing as openers or 3 out of 2 top 3 positions

You ‘certainly’ know you need better and more braver players. Just chill out, pick the best you can for those positions.

Target 70 in the powerplay. Not a safe 45-0
 
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