Pakistan selector Wahab Riaz shared his thoughts on the team’s opening pair on Thursday for the upcoming T20 World Cup 2024.
During the recent T20I series against New Zealand, Babar Azam and Saim Ayub opened the innings for Pakistan. However, Riaz hasn’t ruled out a change in the opening pair ahead of the mega event.
“Rotation is something we believe in and this is a trend that we have started. There is no doubt that Babar and Rizwan are the players that the team relies on the most,” Riaz said.
“We wanted one of Babar or Rizwan to provide support to the middle-order which is why Saim, who is a more attacking player, opened the innings. This is also part of the planning, if somewhere we feel that we need to change that we will do that as well. We are working in the best interest of the team,” he added.
The PCB selection committee named an 18-member squad for this month’s T20I series against Ireland and England today.
The squad will be reduced to 15 players for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, which will begin on June 1, after the first T20I against England on May 22.
The team will leave for Dublin on May 7 following a three-day training camp in Lahore from May 4-6.
Pakistan squad for Ireland and England T20Is
Babar Azam (c), Abrar Ahmed, Azam Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Rizwan, Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Agha, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Usman Khan
- Babar Azam
