Depending On Only Babar Azam And Mohammad Rizwan In Batting Not A Good Sign For Pakistan Team, Says Abdur Rauf

Ahead of Pakistan’s tour of the West Indies, former Pakistani bowler Abdur Rauf has said that it is not a good sign for Pakistan to only depend on two batsmen Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in batting. The former Pakistan pacer Rauf also mentioned that team should play opening batters Sharjeel Khan and Fakhar Zaman against the Caribbean team.

Pakistan is set to play a bilateral T20I and Test series against West Indies at the latter’s home. The T20I series will be played from July 28 to August 3. The Test series will commence with the 1st match on August 12 and conclude with the 2nd Test on August 20. Pakistan recently suffered a severe defeat against England, losing the ODI series 0-3 and T20I series 1-2 against a second-string English squad.

When Either Of Babar Azam Or Mohammad Rizwan Fails, Entire Batting Line-up Is Shattered:  Abdur Rauf

While speaking to The International News, Abdur Rauf mentioned that when either Babar Azam or Mohammad Rizwan fails in batting, Pakistan’s entire batting line-up is mentally shattered.

“The team is depending on only two batsmen, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, which is not a good sign for the team. Whenever either of the two fails, the entire batting line is mentally shattered,” Abdur Rauf said.

Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan were the only two good performances with the bat against the England series. The Pakistan skipper Azam mustered most 177 runs in the 3 ODIs at an average of 59. The rest of the Pakistan batsmen could not cross the 100-run total mark in the three ODIs. In three T20Is, Rizwan and Azam scored 176 and 118 runs respectively. However, the rest Pakistani batsmen could not score more than 60 runs in three games.

Speaking about the West Indies, Abdur Rauf mentioned that they have the advantage of the home soil and their confidence level is higher than Pakistan.

“They are not as strong as they were in the past though. But they have the advantage of home soil. They defeated Australia and Sri Lanka recently. Their confidence level is much higher than Pakistan,” Rauf further said.

While Pakistan were crushed in the T20I and ODI series against England, West Indies accounted for a spectacular victory against Australia in a recent T20I series. Tackling the Aussie side at home, West Indies registered a series win by 4-1. However, the Caribbean side went down in the ODI series 1-2.