Pakistan lost the dead rubber ODI of the five-ODI series by 47 runs to New Zealand and missed out on a chance to complete clean sweep. After the loss at National Stadium, Karachi, Pakistan skipper Babar Azam addressed two major questions in the press conference on May 7. First was Mohammad Rizwan’s desire to bat at no.4 in ODIs and the second was Imam-ul-Haq’s cryptic tweet after getting dropped from the final two games of the series.
“Mohammad Rizwan said it’s my wish to play at four but we will have to keep the team’s requirement in mind and that’s how we will communicate with the players. This is a team where no player says I want to play at this specific number,” Babar said in the post-match press conference.
“Everyone is playing for Pakistan and Mohammad Rizwan has performed at both batting positions. Every player is striving for the team’s win and Rizwan is one of the best players…he has won us many games,” he added.
While Azam said that it is always team first, Mohammad Rizwan did get a promotion to no.4 in the final two ODIs where he registered scores of 24 and 9. On the other hand, Imam's replacement Shan Masood scored 44 and 7 in the fourth and fifth ODI respectively.
Imam had tweeted: "Life is an unexpected journey so never expect anything from anyone". Be patient, Allah is watching!
“I haven’t checked my mobile and don’t know what Imam has tweeted,” said Azam as he tried to downplay his teammate’s tweet.
“There are no disgruntled players in our team and the unity is good. We try to resolve our matters within ourselves and not take them out,” the 28-year-old said.
“We are like a family and our trust level is very good. I don’t think Imam’s tweet would be related to him being excluded from final two ODIs,” he added.
Azam recently broke the record for fastest to 5,000 ODI runs with a century in the fourth ODI. The win helped Pakistan become the no.1 ranked ODI team for the first time. However, Pakistan’s reign did not last long as they slipped to no.3 after a 47-run loss in fifth ODI to Tom Latham-led New Zealand.
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