Shoaib Malik, the mentor for the Stallions in the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Champions T20 Cup, feels that Saim Ayub is such a generational talent that the Pakistan cricket team must accommodate him up the order even if it comes at the cost of having one of Babar Azam or Mohammad Rizwan miss out.
Saim Ayub, the No. 1 choice T20I opener for Pakistan
Saim Ayub has already played 25 T20Is for Pakistan and was even part of their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign. However, often he wasn’t given the chance to open as Rizwan and Babar occupied the spots. Although the duo have the most successful opening partnership in T20I history, many have criticised their lack of intent and poor strike rate. That is exactly a reason why Shoaib Malik feels Saim should play as an opener and then anyone else should be slotted alongside him.
However, Malik didn’t stop there. He went on to say that he should be made an opener across formats, and if that doesn’t happen, it’ll be a waste of his talent. As we speak, this has already happened. Saim has also played 6 Tests and 6 ODIs for Pakistan and was featured in all three formats in the last two months.
“Saim Ayub, regardless of his failures in the past when it comes to T20 cricket, can’t be out of the side. He is an explosive batter who, in my opinion, should open for Pakistan in all three formats. He covers all the aspects and is such a talent that has come into the Pakistan team after many years, so we shouldn’t waste him. There will be some failure as he’s an attack batter, and such players fail more than conventional batters. Whoever opens, he should be there.” Malik said in the Champions T20 Cup pre-tournament press conference.
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Highest partnership in T20Is
| Openers | Nation | Span | Innings | Runs | Average | 100s | 50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Babar Azam-Mohammad Rizwan | Pakistan | 2019-2024 | 72 | 3284 | 46.91 | 10 | 15 |
| Andy Balbirnie-Paul Stirling | Ireland | 2015-2024 | 79 | 2184 | 28.00 | 1 | 16 |
| KL Rahul-Rohit Sharma | India | 2016-2022 | 42 | 1897 | 46.26 | 5 | 10 |
| S Dhawan-Rohit Sharma | India | 2013-2019 | 52 | 1743 | 33.51 | 4 | 7 |
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