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Pakistan’s skipper Babar Azam has not been batting up to his potential and his failure to score runs in the recent tournaments is being linked to Mohammad Rizwan. The duo that was once praised by everybody is now under scrutiny for not playing modern cricket. However, there has been serious criticism being done on the wicketkeeping batter for slowing down Babar.
Is Fakhar a better partner for Babar?
Recently, a cricket statistician tweeted stats that put forward the narrative of Rizwan being the reason for Babar’s failure. The tweet shows that the captain’s batting average is lower when he opens with the wicket-keeper batsman and higher when he opens with Fakhar Zaman. The reason for this was that Babar needed to take more risks when playing with Rizwan. That puts him in a position to get out early. While, on the other hand, Fakhar himself plays fast so the skipper feels less pressure on him.
Numerous people seem to agree with him on this stance but some people opined differently. Somebody pointed out that Fakhar bats better when he is not opening with Babar compared to when he is opening with him.
Another person also seemed to emphasize this particular argument.
Is Rizwan really to be blamed for Babar’s failure?
However, these were not the only two points of view being presented. The public also thought that Rizwan was being used as a scapegoat to cover for Babar’s failure and that Babar only has himself to blame for the falling average.
The dilemma of whether to change the opening pair or not
With Pakistan losing back-to-back games, the criticism has increased significantly. People are trying to find loopholes in the team. Pakistan’s batting in powerplay is definitely a concern but it is not easy to find a solution so suddenly. Babar and Rizwan together have won the team numerous games. From chasing 152 to chasing 203, they have made some brilliant records.
It is a challenge to figure out what changes should be brought. Should the management and PCB break this opening pair, demote either Babar or Rizwan and send Fakhar in one of their places? Or should the management focus on changing the approach of the current pair that is suitable for modern T20 cricket?
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