Former Pakistan captain Babar Azam was recently seen playing on number three instead of his original opening position. In the recently concluded T20I series against New Zealand, Pakistan changed their opening combination of Rizwan and Babar.
Babar said that he was not satisfied with that move by team management and he did that for Pakistan.
“I didn’t feel or take any pressure whenever I open the innings (in T20Is). The team was demanding me to come down to No. three, and I did it for the team. If asked from a personal perspective, I was not satisfied with the move, but I did it for Pakistan,” Babar said in the post-match press conference.
However, Babar played massive knocks while playing at number three he smashed three consecutive fifties in the first 3 T20Is against Blackcaps but Pakistan lost that series by 1-4.
Earlier, Mohammad Hafeez revealed that it was his advice to Babar Azam to bat at number three for Pakistan.
“It took me about two months to convince Babar Azam that you have to do it for Pakistan and you are not the first one who’s doing it. You are a great player, you are a wonderful player and you are playing great cricket however you have to develop Pakistan team.
You and Rizwan are very good players, excellent players but you are not the whole team. We need to develop a team and for that I want you to come at number 3 because you have been playing this role in the ODI cricket for last six years, so it won’t affect you; technically you are very solid,” Hafeez said.