Pakistan cricket trouble: Why Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan are unhappy

There seems to be a fresh controversy surrounding Pakistan cricket. Pakistan cricket has been engulfed with controversies in the past, with the most recent one being their 2023 ODI World Cup debacle after the Men in Green suffered a group stage exit. Following their disastrous World Cup campaign, Babar Azam had resigned as Pakistan skipper and the board announced Shan Masood and Shaheen Afridi as Test and T20I skippers.

Babar has had a prolific season with the bat for Peshawar Zalmi in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), scoring 498 runs from nine matches at a strike-rate of 148.95 (One century and five fifties).

With these kind of performances, one would feel that Babar is enjoying the form of his life. However, not all is fine between Babar and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

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Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan unhappy with No 3 batters’ slot

Babar Azam had been demoted to the No 3 batters’ slot from his usual openers slot earlier this year, when Pakistan played five T20Is against New Zealand in New Zealand. Pakistan eventually lost that series 4-1, and now just a couple of months on from that series, Babar has expressed unhappiness over being asked to bat one down. It was the initiative of former team director Mohammad Hafeez and skipper Shaheen Afridi to put Babar into bat at number three.

"It was the Pakistan team's demand at the time. I did that for Pakistan,” Babar, captain of Peshawar Zalmi, said during a PSL press conference. "If I was asked individually, I wasn't satisfied with the decision to bat at one down position. However, I did that for Pakistan," added Babar.

Babar also went onto add that he did not feel any pressure while opening in T20s, be it for Peshawar in PSL or Pakistan in international cricket. Having said that, the 29-year-old has regularly batted as an opener for Peshawar and racked up the runs. In January, despite batting at three Babar finished the series against the Kiwis with 213 runs from five matches at an average of 42.60, including three fifties.

Babar’s teammate Mohammad Rizwan also came in to the support of his former skipper, saying: "You can say that it [breaking the opening pair] has hurt Pakistan. I can say that Babar bhai has a big heart.

"We both agreed that there is no issue. We both told the management that they can try whatever combination they want," Rizwan had said after Pakistan’s defeat in the fourth T20I against New Zealand.

Pakistan play at least nine more T20Is before the 2024 T20 World Cup that will be held in West Indies and USA. Pakistan, placed in Group A along with arch-rivals India, USA, Canada and Ireland, will begin their campaign against USA on 6 June. The marquee India-Pakistan clash is slated for 9 June in New York.