KARACHI: Legendary all-rounder Shahid Afridi has advised Pakistan skipper Babar Azam to change his team’s opening pair.
Afridi believes that youngster Mohammad Haris will be a good choice to open the innings with Mohammad Rizwan.
“We need fire power at the top with batters who are showing clear intent like Haris and Shadab,” tweeted Afridi.
“Please consider Haris opening with Riz [Rizwan] and you [Babar] one down, followed by your next best hitter. You should be rigid on winning the match and flexible on a balanced batting line up,” he added.
It must be noted that Pakistan’s openers have a combined strike-rate of 85.5 during the ongoing Super 12 stage of the T20 World Cup. It is only better than Zimbabwe’s 84.9 at the moment.
Earlier today, Pakistan qualified for the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup by defeating Bangladesh by five wickets in Adelaide on Sunday.
Chasing a target of 128 runs, Pakistan reached home in 18.1 overs for the loss of five wickets.
Pakistan struggled to get going in the run-chase, with Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam taking 10.3 overs to score 57 runs.
However, Pakistan upped the ante after the openers departed in a space of five balls. Azam took 33 balls and scored 25 runs, meanwhile Rizwan notched up run-a-ball 32.
Mohammad Haris was the star of the show with the bat as his 18-ball 31 put Pakistan on the path to victory.
Shan Masood also chipped in with an important contribution of 24 unbeaten runs in 14 balls.
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