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Muhammad Naeem Khan Niazi
LAHORE, Jun 03 (APP):Cricketer-turned commentator, coach Salman Butt has said that considering their Herculean performances with the bat in the white-ball cricket over the past years, ace batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan cannot be ruled out of the Pakistan’s T20I team.
‘Babar topped the ICC T20I ranking charts for three years and is the leading run-scorer for Pakistan. He is the second leading run-getter in the T20Is in the world and only behind India’s Rohit Sharma by a few runs’ the former captain said in an interview with famous Pakistani cricket Youtuber and analyst Sanaullah on Tuesday.
Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan and Shaheen Shah Afridi were not considered for the recently concluded three-match T20I series against Bangladesh as Pakistan fielded a new-look T20I squad with the focus on playing ‘fearless without being careless’ cricket.
The former captain Salman Butt said if we dissect great players’ professional careers, there are three or four years when they are at the ultimate peak and Babar has achieved this stature through his consistent performances with the bat.
Babar Azam is an outstanding run-getter for the country and this made him heartthrob of the nation and he was on billboards in every part of the country.
“He is still young but runs are not coming with flow and he is not managing to play big innings as he used to do in the past,” the former opening batter Salman Butt said, adding that, currently, he lacks consistency as his bat has not been producing runs as he was in the past and the peak of his career but such phases of lean patch are common with great players and great player always make a comeback.
On the new-look T20I team, he said Babar and Rizwan came under the hammer for not being that aggressive in the first six overs of the power-play and, moreover, it was a common perception that they leave little space for the other batter when they play long innings.
Salman Butt was adamant that the PCB cannot completely rule out Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, adding if a unit can be developed which is satisfying and more aggressive to replace Babar, there is good.
Salman said Pakistan T20I squad will need a player like Babar’s stature to play sheet anchor role in challenging conditions. He said Pakistan T20I squad under Salman Ali Agha got exposed in the recent white-ball tour of New Zealand.
Salman Butt, however, disagreed with the interviewer and reminded him that Bangladesh team may be called a young team but it would be unjust to call Pakistan team as young, adding that Muhammad Haris played the ICC T20I World Cup in 2022 while the rest of them have made many come-backs to the team.
On Pakistan’s victory against Bangladesh, Salman Butt believed though it was a reasonable victory but it can not be taken as a big achievement to celebrate, adding that Bangladesh were a depleted side which lost T20I series against UAE recently. He said most of the Bangladesh senior cricketers had retired or were out of the Pakistan tour due to injury or personal reasons.
Salman Butt praised Mohammad Haris for his maiden century, adding it is a good omen that another consistent wicket-keeper batter will serve Pakistan cricket besides reliable Mohammad Rizwan.
On Pakistan bowling line-up in the series, Salman Butt said ‘Politely but factually, it was not a series to judge Pakistan’s bowling, adding that one needs to have a strong opposition to judge the bowling. He said Pakistan bowled with all-rounders in the series and still worked against the depleted Bangladesh side. He said Pakistan cricket team must play five front-line bowlers to make a difference in the upcoming ICC Men’s T20I world cup 2026.