'Broke the opening pair that...': Ramiz Raja slams PAK team management for splitting Babar-Rizwan combination

Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, Ramiz Raja, has expressed his criticism towards the team management for separating the opening pair of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan in the ongoing T20I series against New Zealand.

This dynamic duo has been the most successful opening pair in T20I history, accumulating an impressive 2400 runs at an average of nearly 49. However, their scoring rates have been relatively low compared to other T20I openers, prompting the need for a reshuffle.

In the first three games of the New Zealand series, Babar has been batting at No. 3, while the young talent, Saim Ayub, has been paired with Rizwan at the top. Although Ayub showed promise with a quick-fire 33 off 14 deliveries in the opening T20I, the newly formed pair has struggled to establish strong partnerships, only managing scores of 8 and 23 in the subsequent two games.

Raja, in a video on his YouTube channel, raised doubts about the rationale behind breaking up the successful Babar-Rizwan opening pair.

"So much pressure was created to break the opening pair of Babar and Rizwan. After breaking the opening partnership, which was evaluated based on the strike rate. When you bring in new players, they may perform well in leagues, but international cricket is a different beast where there is pressure, and the focus of the entire world is on you. You broke the opening pair that was famous worldwide," said Raja.

"Either you have workshop of trained openers behind you who are gradually being introduced, when you have no other options. It takes time to form an opening pair. It's not an easy task. So, if you have a pair, and they consistently kept you in the field during matches, what benefit did you get after breaking it?," he added.

Despite the lack of success from the new opening partnership, Babar has discovered his rhythm at the No. 3 position. The former captain has achieved a remarkable feat of scoring three consecutive half-centuries in the ongoing series, although Pakistan has unfortunately been on the losing side, trailing 0-3 with only two games left to play.

Ramiz Raja also addressed the accusations of bias towards Babar Azam, clarifying that his support extends to any individual who captains the Pakistan side.

Babar Azam, who captained Pakistan in 134 matches across various formats, achieved an impressive record of 78 victories, resulting in a winning percentage of over 58. However, despite his success, Babar faced criticism for some of his tactical decisions and a decline in his batting form during the previous year's ODI World Cup. Consequently, he made the decision to step down from his captaincy role in all three formats.

"The accusation made against me was that I backed Babar Azam. I support every captain because their role is to lead not just on the field during the game, but also extends to off the field as well," stated Raja.

Pakistan has appointed Shan Masood and Shaheen Afridi as replacements for Babar Azam to lead the side in Tests and T20Is, respectively. Unfortunately, the duo has had a challenging start.

Under Masood's captaincy, the team suffered a disappointing 0-3 defeat against Australia in the recent Test series. Similarly, in Afridi's first assignment as T20I captain, Pakistan finds themselves trailing by the same margin against New Zealand.

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