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The Pakistan cricket team has been marred by on-field and off-field issues, only made worse by the fact that they lost the fourth T20I against New Zealand in Christchurch on Friday (January 19), even though Mohammad Rizwan scored an unbeaten 90.
The series scoreline after the fourth T20I read: New Zealand 4-0 Pakistan. It has been a complete no-show from the 2021 T20 World Cup runners-up in this series after entering a new era under the captaincy of 23-year-old star pacer Shaheen Afridi.
What’s more, the Pakistan team management decided to make a few more changes to the overall team dynamic, one of them being the demotion of former captain Babar Azam from the opening role to the No.3 position in T20Is.
The four T20Is played against the Blackcaps has made it evident enough that the new opening combo of youngster Saim Ayub and Mohammad Rizwan has failed to click.
Now, Rizwan has himself come out and made a huge confession regarding the change of the opening combination in T20Is.
MORE: Pakistan off to a disastrous start in the post Babar Azam captaincy era
Mohammad Rizwan expresses his unhappiness over new opening combination
Speaking to the press in Christchurch following Pakistan’s loss to New Zealand in the fourth T20I, Rizwan – who scored 90* off 63 deliveries and helped his side post a challenging total in the 1st innings – addressed the criticism surrounding Pakistan’s latest opening combo and also reserved praise for Babar.
You can say that breaking our opening partnership has hurt Pakistan. Babar bhai has a big heart & we both agreed there is no issue in splitting our opening pair. We told the management they can try whatever combination they want. But the difficulty arises when you break things which were working well.
Rizwan’s statements ring very well and go hand-in-hand with the popular adage, “Never try to fix something that isn’t broken.”
MORE: Mohammad Hafeez to be sacked as Pakistan Team Director?
Rizwan’s opening partner, Ayub, has failed miserably in the four games, registering scores of 27, 1, 10, and 1. He has failed to live up to the expectations and has only raised more questions than provide any notable solutions or promise for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
One can only wonder why the management opted to needlessly tinker with a combination that had brought them so much success in the last few years. More so ahead of the showpiece event that is set to begin less than five months from now.
Including the final T20I against New Zealand, Pakistan are going to play only five more T20Is before the 2024 T20 World Cup (they tour England late in May to play four T20Is).
Will the management continue with the Ayub-Rizwan combination at the top of the order and give the 21-year-old sensation a longer rope, or will we see the team revert to the tried and tested combination of Babar and Rizwan? There’s only one way to find out.
What next for Mohammad Rizwan and Pakistan?
Pakistan will hope for a consolation win in the fifth and final T20I at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch and would be keen to end their eight-game losing streak across all formats that stretches back to the 2023 World Cup.
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