'Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are...', Wasim Akram makes a BIG statement ahead of IND vs PAK clash

Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram believes that changing the opening pair during the tournament should not be practiced and is not a good idea.

Source: Twitter

The India and Pakistan fans could not have asked for a better week in cricket. After battling it out hard on the park in their 1st match of Asia Cup 2022 on August 28, the two sides are back on the cricket field to slug it out again. Expect this slugfest to live up to its reputation on this Sunday night as well. Pakistan will need to learn a lot from their last encounter vs India, which they lost by 5 wickets. One of the biggest weaknesses in their team is the T20 batting template they use. Openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are slow starters who kill the momentum despite scoring tons of runs at the top. Many former experts believe that there is need to change the opening pair. 

However, former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram does not think so. He believes that changing the opening pair during the tournament should not be practiced and is not a good idea. "Babar and Rizwan are opening the innings for last one and a half year. Fakhar was a natural opener but when Rizwan started doing well, he started playing at No.3. Changing opening pair during the tournament is not ideal," he told Cricket Pakistan website. 

Akram added that expect Babar to score well against India. He said that Babar was unfortunate in the first 2 games of the tournament where he scored just 10 and 9 respectively.

What's your #Super4 mood? ________
Pick the image number that best describes your mood in the comments _#ACC #AsiaCup2022 #GetReadyForEpic pic.twitter.com/kevxyU61mR — AsianCricketCouncil (@ACCMedia1) September 4, 2022

"Every team now does homework and if you see Babar, if he doesn't get singles upfront, his runs don't come. Unfortunately, he was dismissed early in the first two games. There is a saying, 'Blessing in disguise so maybe Almighty wants him to score runs against India," he said. 

However, Akram added that Pakistan need to be smart with their batting. He had criticised Rizwan for playing slow vs Hong Kong. He feels with power-hitters waiting in the middle order, Pakistan's top 3 needs to play freely and play big shots when they are settled. Dealing in singles in the slog overs is not a great idea, Akram said.