Former Pakistan international cricketer Sikander Bakht criticised Pakistan's batting display in their five-wicket defeat to Ireland in the first T20I in Dublin on Friday, May 10, and questioned skipper Babar Azam's decisions.
Pakistan batted first and posted 182-6 in their 20 overs, with Babar scoring a half-century coming in at No. 3. Other important contributions came from opener Saim Ayub, who scored a fluid 45 in 29, and Iftikhar Ahmed, who scored a power-packed unbeaten 37 off just 15 balls.
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Other big names, though, such as Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, and Shadab Khan failed to do much with the bat, while Azam Khan, who has been backed despite repeated failures, couldn't avoid one more poor outing after getting dismissed for a duck. All these players came ahead of Iftikhar, who walked in at No. 7 and helped Pakistan post a respectable total.
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Speaking on Pakistani news channel Geo News, Sikander Bakht was critical of Pakistan's poor batting performance, crediting Iftikhar and Shaheen Afridi for their late cameos down the order and questioning Babar's decision to not send the former higher up the order.
I always say this. I have been arguing since the past two series that the team should send Iftikhar higher up the order. Today, once again, [Babar Azam] sent Azam [Khan] and Shadab ahead of [Iftikhar].
Iftikhar's a very good batsman. He's neither my relative, nor have I ever met him in my life. I just watch him play and I can see the quality in him. He can carry the innings if you give him a chance. I am disgusted by the fact that other players are sent above him in the order, but still Iftikhar helped Pakistan to a respectable total. Respective in the context that it would have shameful had Pakistan scored 160 runs. 180 was pretty respectable.
On the other hand, Bakht praised Babar's decision to play at No. 3 and allowing Rizwan to open the innings.
One of the good decisions taken by Babar was to come in to bat at No. 3. In my opinion, Rizwan should open with Saim and Babar should bat one down.
Bakht was asked by the host journalist about Azam Khan's ongoing lean patch with Pakistan in T20Is, to which the former replied that Azam should be played in the remaining two games against Ireland in order to figure out if he's got what is needed to play at the highest level.
Azam Khan should be played in all the games so that we can get know if he's good enough. Today, if you noticed, he was dismissed by a bouncer. This is one thing that the entire world watches and gathers data on, to figure out the weakness of the player.
The first ball he faced, he ducked at the short ball. The second ball was another bouncer and he was caught after hitting the ball. I think other teams are aware of the fact that Azam is a good hard-hitter but they have planned to target his weakness against short of length deliveries.