It’s not even been a week since Pakistan whitewashed Bangladesh in a three-match T20 series at home. Although many had thought Pakistan could beat Bangladesh but of course there were some doubts given how Pakistan have been performing at the international stage of late.
Pakistan has dropped Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan from the T20 setup saying goodbye to the anchor mindset as both of them played a role of anchor in T20 cricket. The team now has a new coaching staff and a new captain as well, as it wasn’t a long ago Salman Ali Agha had replaced Mohammad Rizwan in the role.
After the third T20i against Bangladesh, Agha laid down the approach of the Pakistan team moving forward, particularly in the shortest format of the game.
“As long as I’m captain this is how we’ll play,” he said after Pakistan’s seven-wicket win in the third T20I. “I think this is the way to play cricket going forward; that’s how the world is playing. You need to put the bowlers and batters under pressure. In New Zealand, this is what we tried to follow, but conditions didn’t allow it. But the boys who went there learned a way to be fearless without being careless. That is something we’ve balanced perfectly this series.”
The captain also backed Mohammad Haris who made his comeback in the Pakistan series during the T20 series against New Zealand. Nevertheless, the series did not went fruitful for him but he scored unbeaten knock of 107* and was adjudged player of the match in the last game and also player of the series.
“Haris gets accused of not using his brain during T20 innings,” Salman said. “In this series, when we were 5 for 2 [in the first game], he took calculated risks, and the same today. I think Haris, Saim [Ayub] and Hasan [Nawaz] are players I’d like to turn into matchwinners in my captaincy. These players can perform wonders for Pakistan cricket.”
Despite Salman’s assurance that “the door is not closed for anybody” during his T20 setup, it is very clear who is being moved on. As Pakistan’s main T20 openers, praised for their reliability but criticized for their conservatism, Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam have long attempted—and eventually failed—to end their careers. Their position at the top was justified even recently since they lacked players who could build innings if they dropped too soon. Salman is eager to draw heart from the fact that early wickets did not raise concerns for Pakistan’s innings as they had in the past, even if these three matches did not pit them against a top T20 team.
“I’m very happy with this team and the environment we’re creating,” he said. “I think the team has begun to move in [the right] direction. If conditions change, we’ll respect it. Modern-day cricket doesn’t mean disrespecting conditions. For me, modern cricket is beating par by about 10-15 runs – both with bat and ball – so you make it easier for the bowlers or the batters. Whatever the conditions, we’ll follow what we feel the par score is and then try to beat it.
“Openers’ positions don’t change. Haris is a player at No. 3 for us because he’s a keeper and we like to give him a little rest after that. Hasan is a middle-order hitter, and my number with him is interchangeable. The top three are set, and the rest is situation dependent. I was going to play at No. 4, but we saw we hadn’t lost more than one wicket after 10 overs. And we’ve seen how dangerous Hasan is against spin in the PSL and this series. So we keep the batting order flexible and expect players to be ready to come in.”
Agha also has his mind on the T20 World Cup next year and speaking about the mega event he said the core of the team would be the same as they are preparing the team keeping the world event in mind.
“There’s a year to go for the T20 World Cup, so you can’t say it’ll be the same players. But I think the core will be the same because I’d like to give these boys as much of a chance as possible. We’d like to have a playing XI for the World Cup ready with players who have experience of playing in this team. This is a young side with 25-30 matches to go. But the core is the same.”
