Pakistan are expected to go for a new opening pair in the T20I series in New Zealand with Mohammad Rizwan to partner young Saim Ayub instead of Babar Azam.
According to reports from Auckland, the team management had Rizwan and Saim batting in the nets against the new ball bowlers while Babar and Fakhar Zaman had their knocks against mainly spinners.
Babar and Rizwan have opened pretty successfully for Pakistan in the T20 format since 2021 but new captain Shaheen Shah Afridi, new high performance coach Yasir Arafat and team director Mohammad Hafeez are keen to try out something new against New Zealand in the five-match series, beginning on Friday.
The 21-year-old Saim, who played eight T20Is last year and made his Test debut in Sydney last week, is known for his hard-hitting style and the team management believes he and Rizwan can give the team faster starts.
Babar is now expected to bat at No.3 followed by Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan and Iftikhar Ahmed. Babar has apparently agreed to bat at No.3 after Shaheen and Hafeez spoke to him.
