Pakistan are expected to field a new opening pair for the T20 series in New Zealand, with young Sam Ayub partnering Mohammad Rizwan in place of Babar Azam.
According to reports from Auckland, the team management asked Rizwan and Sam to bat in the nets against the new-ball bowlers, while Babar and Fakhar Zaman played their innings in the other nets mainly against the spinners.
Babar and Rizwan have opened quite successfully for Pakistan in the T20 format since 2021, but obviously, new captain Shaheen Shah Afridi, new high-performance coach Yasir Arafat and team director Mohammad Hafeez are looking for something to do against New Zealand in the five matches. Willing to try something new. -The match series is starting from 12th January.
Their unbeaten partnership of over 150 runs helped Pakistan defeat India for the first time in any World Cup game during the T20 World Cup in Dubai in 2021.
The 21-year-old Sam, who played eight T20 Internationals last year and made his Test debut in Sydney earlier this month, is known for his explosive batting style and the team management believes he and Rizwan will be the team’s Can give a fast start to.
Babar is now expected to bat at number three, followed by Fakhar Zaman (himself an opening batsman and hard-hitting southpaw), Azam Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed.
Babar is no longer the captain in any format, with team insiders saying that after talking to Shaheen and Hafeez, the high-profile batsman had agreed to bat at number one.
Pakistan have generally performed well in the T20 format and have played in the 2022 World T20 Cup final and also made the final of the Asia Cup T20 format and the World T20 Cup semi-final in 2021.
