Pakistan’s wicketkeeper-batsman and vice-captain Mohammad Rizwan expressed his thoughts on the management’s decision to separate him from opening with Babar Azam following the fourth Twenty20 International against New Zealand at Christchurch’s Hagley Oval.
During the post-match press conference, Rizwan opened up that the decision to separate him and Babar Azam as the opening pair in T20 Internationals did not work well and has been harmful to the team.
You can say that it [breaking the opening pair] has hurt Pakistan, I can say that Babar has a big heart. We both agreed that there is no issue. We both told the management that they can try whatever combination they want.
"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
He added
The difficulty arises when you break things that were already working well. However, management is looking at what can be extracted best from different combinations.
Pakistan batted first and scored 158 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in their 20 overs. Mohammad Rizwan played a great innings, scoring 90 runs off 63 balls with six boundaries and two sixes. He had a good partnership of 51 runs with Babar Azam, who scored 19 runs off 11 balls.
In the chase, skipper Shaheen Afridi took three quick wickets, putting New Zealand in trouble. However, Daryl Mitchell and Glenn Philips turned the game around with unbeaten fifties. Mitchell scored 72 runs off 44 balls with seven fours and two sixes, while Philips contributed with a 70-run inning off 52 balls, including five boundaries and three sixes.
Their partnership of 139 runs secured a seven-wicket victory for New Zealand, giving them a 4-0 lead in the five-match series against Pakistan.
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