Babar and Rizwan should not open in T20Is, says Mickey Arthur

Former Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur thinks that Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan should not open in T20Is for the Men in Green.

Babar and Rizwan are the highest-ranked Pakistan batters and they have been highly successful while opening the innings. But, Arthur believes one of them must bat at No.3 while Fakhar Zaman should open.

"You'd want to probably send Fakhar Zaman up and have a left-right batting combination so that the bowlers are bowling different angles, and you have Babar or Rizwan come in at No. 3 so that there is a little more depth and someone can play the sheet anchor role for them and hold one end up while the others revolve around these guys," said Mickey on ESPNcricinfo's T20 Time Out

"I think they should [separate Babar and Rizwan]. Fakhar hits the ball in different areas, it frustrates the bowlers a little bit," Arthur said. "It is the different angles, you've got left-hand and a right-hand. So, spread Babar and Rizwan and you put Fakhar Zaman back at the top."

On the other hand, Arthur opined Pakistan has a very inexperienced middle order unlike in his tenure when the side had the likes of Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik.

"In terms of blueprint, when I was with Pakistan, and we had a more successful time in T20 cricket, we used to set ourselves to get 160 batting first and then rely on our bowlers to squeeze," Arthur said.

"We used to build as best we can, and that was quite a good recipe for us. The difference between that team and the team now is that in the middle, we had Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik. In the middle now, they are a very young outfit, they don't have much experience, and when you get them three wickets down early, I think they are going to struggle," he concluded.