Every cricket fan left in shock right after Babar Azam opened the inning alongside Fakhar Zaman during the third ODI of the Pakistan ODI Tri-Series 2025 at Karachi. With just a few days ahead of the Champions Trophy 2025, the change in Babar Azam’s batting order raised many questions among the cricket community.
Pakistan cricket fans started to believe that Babar Azam is set to open the inning in the Champions Trophy 2025 set to begin on February 19.
With multiple rumours starting to spread like wildfire on social media, Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan stepped forward and clarified the reason behind the change in Babar’s batting position.
“His [Ayub’s] absence created a huge disturbance, and we went for the safety of Babar Azam, who’s our best batter. At the top, if the ball swings, he can control it. When Abdullah Shafique got out early in South Africa, Babar had to deal with the new ball anyway. He was coping with the seam and swing and enabling us to attack at the end.
So we thought why not go for our most technically solid player to open, rather than throwing someone else in at the deep end”,skipper Mohammad Rizwan said ahead of the tri-series final against New Zealand.
Pakistan’s star batter managed to score 23 runs off 19 balls against South Africa and failed to showcase an impressive performance ahead of the Champions Trophy 2025. With Tizwan and Salman Agha’s individual centuries, Pakistan won the game by six wickets and advanced to the final.
Though Babar hasn’t scored a century in the ODI format since August 2023, Rizwan backed his teammate and praised him for his handy knocks in recent matches. Babar’s last five ODI scores stands as 23(19), 10(23), 52(71), 73(95) and 23(38).
“Babar has achieved so much that we are expecting him to score a hundred in every match. He has made a big name; but if you look at him with a normal lens, he is still contributing with handy knocks.It’s not as if he is doing something drastically different, but he is still getting out. Luck has evaded him. I am confident he’ll come out of it”,Rizwan added.
With a victory against South Africa, Pakistan qualified for the Final match at Karachi. Pakistan will face New Zealand to play the grand final of the Pakistan ODI Tri-Series 2025 on February 14 in National Stadium, Karachi.
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