Former captain Babar Azam and his poor form remain central to cricket debates in Pakistan ahead of the ODI tri-series final against New Zealand on Friday and the ICC Champions Trophy that follows, while the team management decided to push the star batter up the order as an opener.
Asking Babar to open and his failure in that position in the two matches of the tri-series has led to polarized opinion on the move ahead of the team’s Champions Trophy title defence on home soil.
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Had Saim Ayub been fit, Pakistan would not have thought of using Babar as an opener, allowing him to bat in his normal position in the middle order.
On the eve of the tri-series final in Karachi, captain Mohammad Rizwan shared the team’s theory behind the decision, besides trying to fill the void created by Ayub’s injury.
“His (Ayub’s) absence created a huge disturbance, and we went for the safety of Babar Azam, who’s our best batter,” said Rizwan. “At the top, if the ball swings, he can control it. When Abdullah Shafique got out early in South Africa, Babar had to deal with the new ball anyway. He was coping with the seam and swing and enabling us to attack at the end. So we thought why not go for our most technically solid player to open, rather than throwing someone else in at the deep end.”
Babar scored 10 in the tri-series opener against New Zealand in Lahore and 23 in the next match against South Africa in Karachi.
“Babar has achieved so much that we are expecting him to score a hundred in every match. He has made a big name; but if you look at him with a normal lens, he is still contributing with handy knocks,” Rizwan added.
“It’s not as if he is doing something drastically different, but he is still getting out. Luck has evaded him. I am confident he’ll come out of it.”
