Why is the new management forcing Babar Azam to open the innings in T20Is?

[as-95]

It is quite clear that Babar Azam is the best batsman in the Pakistan cricket team. He has seen phemomenal success in ODI's wihlst batting at the no.3 position and he is now on the cusp of or arguably already replaced Joe Root in the Fab 4 alongside Smith, Kohli, Williamson.

Babar is clearly most comfortable when he is batting at no.3 and has seen great success in T20's too whilst batting in that position. He is not a power hitter that should be opening the innings but an incredibly reliable accumulator who can put the bad deliveries away and often accelerate the pace of his innings. He is the glue that keeps the Pakistani batting lineup intact! For these reasons, the management should be making sure he is at his most comfortable and favoured batting position.

Teams like India protect Kohli from the new ball and make sure he bats at his favoured position (no.3). On the other hand, Misbah and the new management are tampering with a previously successful T20 lineup (ranked 1 in the world) and forcing Babar to open so that failures like Umar Akmal and Ahmed Shehzad can be accomodated!

I'm not sure who decided to put Shehzad in the number 3 slot for the second T20, but they clearly have no business in cricketing strategy! Everyone complained about Inzimam as Chief Selector, but at least he was able to keep out players like Shehzad and Akmal away from the team. Misbah may have bitten off more than he could chew by trying to take on a Chief Selector AND Head Coach role.

Unless the future strategy drastically changes, I fear that there are some dark times ahead for Pakistan Cricket fans.

 

[re82h]

nonsense.

He has been opening in domestic T20s so it is clearly his preferred position.

 

[Mueez]

He also opened the innings under Mickey.

 

[Fahdi]

He has been opening for a while and that is his best position. Moving Babar from the opening spot would be criminal.

 

[angrypathan]

OP must have been asleep for the last 2 years

 

[Hyperion66]

OP makes sense. Babar is your only world class bat, don't throw him against the new ball.

 

[as-95]

He has been opening for a while and that is his best position. Moving Babar from the opening spot would be criminal.

He has played half of his matches in 3-5 batting position and his average is equally high. Protecting our only world class batsman from the new ball is important to the success of our team.

 

[as-95]

OP makes sense. Babar is your only world class bat, don't throw him against the new ball.

Exactly. Not a difficult idea to comprehend tbh!

 

[as-95]

nonsense.

He has been opening in domestic T20s so it is clearly his preferred position.

It's clearly not his best position though if he has failed to capitalise in 3 matches against an amateur side... He should be playing number 3 like in ODI's.

 

[Abdullah719]

OP makes sense. Babar is your only world class bat, don't throw him against the new ball.

In T20s, your best batsman should face the most balls possible.

Babar has been opening for ages in T20s, whether we're talking domestic or international. He is very good at finding the gaps so opening generally helps him get off to quite a good start as he's capable of finding the boundaries. Makes no sense to put him down the order when that would curtail his output, he finds it much harder to hit boundaries in the middle overs and is also generally a better player of pace than spin.

 

[Abdullah719]

It's clearly not his best position though if he has failed to capitalise in 3 matches against an amateur side... He should be playing number 3 like in ODI's.

Three matches where he struggled on a slow pitch negate all his previous innings which took him to number one in the rankings... OK.

 

[Shoaib88]

Babar will go back to #3 spot once sharjeel comes back.

 

[Shoaib88]

Also, the complete blame of babar's recent bad form against sri lankan c side foes to misbah who is forcing his defensive mindset on Babar, restricting his stroke making by putting pressure on him to protect his wicket!

 

[as-95]

In T20s, your best batsman should face the most balls possible.

Babar has been opening for ages in T20s, whether we're talking domestic or international. He is very good at finding the gaps so opening generally helps him get off to quite a good start as he's capable of finding the boundaries. Makes no sense to put him down the order when that would curtail his output, he finds it much harder to hit boundaries in the middle overs and is also generally a better player of pace than spin.

Considering it's Pakistan cricket we're talking about and the T20 format, there isn't much difference in balls faced between openers and the number 3 batsman. Our openers don't last long in ODI's and they last even less time in T20's so your comment regarding Babar facing the most balls is invalid. Babar will face as many balls in the number 3 slot as he will as an opener since one of our batsman will likely be back in the pavilion before the 4th over! Thats obviously not true if Babar bats for the whole innings but that is increibly unlikely!

 

[as-95]

Three matches where he struggled on a slow pitch negate all his previous innings which took him to number one in the rankings... OK.

It was a pitch curated by Pakistani's in Babar's home country against a team that left their whole starting squad at home. Babar failed to score at home in 3 matches against a club level side. It is also important to remember that he has played half of his matches in the 3-5 position so that contributed just as much to his rankings rise.

 

[as-95]

Also, the complete blame of babar's recent bad form against sri lankan c side foes to misbah who is forcing his defensive mindset on Babar, restricting his stroke making by putting pressure on him to protect his wicket!

Fair points... Initially, I had hoped that Misbah has evolved after retirement and he is ready to instill an exciting brand of attacking cricket into the Pakistan team. Sadly, it looks like nothing has changed and the team is going to go backwards with his defensive mindset and insistence on bringing TTF's like Shehzad back into the side.

 

[babajee]

Babar has gone up another level in T20s ever since he opened the batting. He needs to continue opening. The issue wasn't the new ball this series, it was the slow pitches like others have said.

 

[Abdullah719]

Considering it's Pakistan cricket we're talking about and the T20 format, there isn't much difference in balls faced between openers and the number 3 batsman. Our openers don't last long in ODI's and they last even less time in T20's so your comment regarding Babar facing the most balls is invalid. Babar will face as many balls in the number 3 slot as he will as an opener since one of our batsman will likely be back in the pavilion before the 4th over! Thats obviously not true if Babar bats for the whole innings but that is increibly unlikely!

Then what is the point of this thread even...

It was a pitch curated by Pakistani's in Babar's home country against a team that left their whole starting squad at home. Babar failed to score at home in 3 matches against a club level side. It is also important to remember that he has played half of his matches in the 3-5 position so that contributed just as much to his rankings rise.

Doesn't matter who curated the pitch. It was slow. There was lots of assistance for the spinners and the pace bowlers' variations were difficult to deal with.

3 innings. It's not the end of world. Why spoil something which has been your strength?

 

[Fahdi]

He has played half of his matches in 3-5 batting position and his average is equally high. Protecting our only world class batsman from the new ball is important to the success of our team.

The exact opposite is true. In T20s you want your best batsman to face as many deliveries as possible and there is no concept of protecting against or seeing off the new ball because there are only 20 overs, the first 6 overs is the best time to score and that is when you want your best batsmen to play. Also Babar is not that good in the last 4-5 overs. Babar is the most comfortable when the ball is coming on to the bat and he is in charge of the innings, let it remain so. Panicking and moving Babar from the opening position after he had one bad series will be a terrible decisions.

 

[re82h]

As mentioned above best batsmen should face the most balls in T20.
Its not Test cricket where you have to protect your best batsman from new ball.
If anything in T20s it is probably easier to score early on.
He has just had a bad few games. No need to change his batting position.