"People have understood it in another way" - Mohammad Rizwan defends team management on opening partnership split-up with Babar Azam in T20Is

Pakistan wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan defended the team management for the move to split the opening pair of him and Babar Azam in T20Is.

The duo have been the most prolific opening pair in T20I history with 2,400 runs, despite being among the bottom feeders in scoring rates among T20I openers. In the recently concluded New Zealand T20Is, Pakistan went with youngster Saim Ayub to partner Rizwan at the top, with Babar moving down to No. 3.

Speaking to Cricbuzz on the sidelines of the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL), Rizwan highlighted the team management's motive of trying different opening combinations with the T20 World Cup in mind.

"This is not the fact and what our management said, probably people have understood it in another way. Our management and captain said that we are trying out different things for the World Cup and for that we want to see what can be our best XI. Like say we can have left-right combination at the top and Saim Ayub is left-hander. There is Fakhar Zaman also," said Rizwan.

"So for the World Cup we were experimenting with left-right combination. I don't think it is a wrong decision and if I am destined to [open] in that case I will do it in future and I am not angry with the thinking process of the management and neither is Babar Azam. Look they said, we are going to West Indies and there will be spin and every country is trying for left-right combination and so our management is also giving that a thought," he added.

Despite the move helping Babar rediscover his form, with the former skipper scoring three half-centuries in the five T20Is against New Zealand, the Rizwan-Ayub pairing failed to make a mark.

The duo had a high of only 33 as a partnership in the first four games before Haseebullah Khan opened with Rizwan in the final outing but to no avail.

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"Kind of a player who neither loses his heart nor courage" - Mohammad Rizwan on Shaheen Afridi

Pakistan Nets Session

Mohammad Rizwan praised newly-appointed T20I skipper Shaheen Afridi as someone who never loses hope, irrespective of the match situation.

Afridi led the Lahore Qalandars to back-to-back PSL titles in 2022 and 2023, with Rizwan being the Player of the Tournament in the 2022 edition.

"He [Shaheen Afridi] is a very good captain and I have seen him in Lahore Qalandars and other teams where I was his teammate and he is the kind of a player who neither loses his heart nor courage till the end of a game," said Rizwan.

Unfortunately for Afridi, his T20I captaincy tenure with Pakistan started poorly with a 1-4 series defeat to New Zealand.