Breaking Babar-Rizwan Opening Pair Has Hurt Pakistan - Mohammad Rizwan's Blunt Statement

Pakistan’s opening pair of wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam smashed India by ten wickets while chasing down 152 runs in the T20 World Cup 2021. However, now, the pair doesn’t open for Pakistan and the management has been experimenting with new batsmen in the position. Rizwan was asked about the same after Pakistan’s loss in the 4th T20I match against New Zealand.

While addressing the pre-match press conference, Pakistan’s T20I vice-captain Mohammad Rizwan, while talking about the issue stated that the management decided to break our opening pair and they also agreed on it. He revealed that the management wanted to bring out something best, however, they never said that Babar and Rizwan would never open for Pakistan in the future.

Watch – Mohammad Rizwan opens on his separation with Babar Azam as T20 opening pair

Mohammad Rizwan said, “You can say that it [breaking the opening pair] has hurt Pakistan. If you talk about our pair, I have said earlier also that I have talked to the management, the captain, Hafeez Bhai has also been talked about, but I can say that Babar bhai has a big heart. We both agreed that there is no issue [in splitting the opening pair]. We both told the management that they can try whatever combination they want.”

“It is difficult because many things are broken and the entire people of Pakistan saw that our pair was doing well, but our management also saw what best could be taken out of it. If you look at Hafeez Bhai’s words, look at Shaheen Shah Afridi’s words, they never said that you guys will not open in future. They are saying that if we can get someone best then it is fine otherwise both of you have performed so much, we definitely have you.”

"Has breaking the Babar-Rizwan opening pair hurt Pakistan?"

Mohammad Rizwan responds to a question.#NZvPAK pic.twitter.com/PFysTJLbqS

— Grassroots Cricket (@grassrootscric) January 19, 2024

Mohammad Rizwan has been one of the consistent performers of Pakistan in every format over the last few years. Rizwan played a knock of 90 runs in the 4th NZ vs PAK T20I match and helped the team post a total of 158/5 while batting first. However, despite removing the top three early, Daryl Mitchell (72*) and Glenn Phillips (70*) took the game away from the Pakistani team. At last, Pakistan were handed over their fourth straight loss in the five-match T20I series against New Zealand, with one match to play.

Pakistan have not been going through a decent patch in international cricket and faced much backlash in their previous few games. Before the New Zealand tour, Pakistan faced a 3-0 loss in the Test series against Australia, whereas, they were also knocked out from the ODI World Cup 2023 and the Asia Cup 2023.

However, Mohammad Rizwan has been one shining aspect for Pakistan during their disappointing phase in international cricket. Rizwan also scored a ton during the ODI World Cup 2023 and also played some crucial innings in Australia. However, the team has been very much dependent on Rizwan due to which they have not been able to gain any success in international cricket.