'The team was demanding it... I wasn't satisfied': Babar Azam opens up on losing opening spot months ahead of T20 World Cup 2024

Former Pakistan skipper Babar Azam lost the opening spot in the T20Is months ahead of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024. The Peshawar Zalmi captain after his team’s thrilling two-run win over Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2024 clash said that he did it for the team but isn’t satisfied with the Pakistan team management’s decision. 
 

Babar is opening the innings for the Peshawar-based PSL franchise. He was asked about whether there was extra pressure on him to return to the role in the post-match press conference. 
 

“As an opener, there’s no pressure of any sort of me, neither do I take any,” responded Babar. “The [national] team was demanding it [shifting down to No.3]. Whatever I did, I did it for Pakistan. If you ask me individually, I wasn’t satisfied playing one-down for Pakistan. But I did it for Pakistan.”
 

Babar scored 51 runs from 46 balls to help his side post 147/6 at National Stadium, Karachi. With six wins from 10 games, Zalmi have qualified for the playoffs. Babar has been a consistent performer for the team with 498 runs from nine innings at an average of 62.25. He has scored one century and five half-centuries so far. Also, his strike rate is 148.66 which is not the lowest among the top five run-scorers.
 

Babar’s record at no.3 

Under Shaheen Afridi's captaincy, Babar batted at no.3, a position he had batted at before as well in the format. He has scored 903 runs from 24 innings at an average of 47.52. He has nine half-centuries as well but the strike rate is slightly lower when compared to his statistics while opening in T20Is.

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Ayub, Rizwan's numbers not outstanding either

Saim Ayub was selected as an opener in the T20I series against New Zealand. The left-handed batter opens the innings for Zalmi as well. However, after playing 12 T20Is, the youngster is yet to score a half-century. His strike rate is 124.61. On the other hand, Mohammad Rizwan who retained his opening spot does not have a better strike rate than Babar either. He has scored 2,981 runs from 90 innings at an average of 48.86. He has one century and 26 fifties in the format but his strike rate is 127.55.
 

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