Reports: Pakistan to change batting tactics in T20Is, Babar Azam to feature in middle order

After a 3-0 series defeat at the hands of Australia, Pakistan have travelled to New Zealand for a five-match T20I series. Ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup, the Shaheen Shah Afridi-led side is looking to change the permutation and combination of the batting order. Consequently, a few changes can be seen in the series against Kiwis.

As per reports, Babar Azam is likely to bat in the middle order to facilitate Mohammad Rizwan and Saim Ayub at the top of the order. Babar and Rizwan have done a commendable job as an opening pair but the new management prefers to give the former captain a new role to stabilize the middle order, as the Men in Green have lacked quality in that region in the past. In that case, Fakhar Zaman can be seen batting at number three, while Babar will bat at four.

Pakistan are trying this new experiment keeping the T20 World Cup in mind. The conditions in the West Indies and USA will favour the 2009 winners as they aim to get the job done and lift the trophy this time around. In the 2022 edition of the competition, they qualified for the finals in Australia but lost to England on the night of the finals.

Saim Ayub likely to be new opening partner, Babar Azam to play in middle order

On the other hand, youngster Saim Ayub has proven himself as a hard-hitting opener and courtesy of the same, he has been trusted with the responsibility at the top of the order. Rizwan, who usually takes some time to settle down, will have a partner who can strike well so that the scoreboard keeps ticking. Previously, Pakistan faced a lot of criticism for their poor run rate in the shortest format and the recent changes can be considered to be an answer to the outrage from former cricketers and supporters.

In case the experiment fails in the upcoming New Zealand series, Pakistan may once again go back to Babar and Rizwan as the openers. The upcoming edition of the Pakistan Super League may give a lot of answers in that case.