In a video on his Youtube channel, Ramiz Speaks, Raja criticised Ayub after the second match of Pakistan’s T20I series against Ireland. Pakistan won the game and levelled the series scoreline 1-1 after a shock defeat to the hosts in the opening match. Ayub scored six off three in the chase and was out early, having scored 45 off 29 balls in the previous game. The 21-year-old has played 19 T20Is for Pakistan since his debut in March last year.

“Another thing they need to look at is their opening pair,” said Raja while dissecting the second T20I. “I don’t think Saim Ayub gives you security. He shows flashes of brilliance, but you have to show sustainable flashes of brilliance. If you’re not scoring 50 off 30 balls these days, it means you opening and breaking a registered pair of Babar and Rizwan is not worth it.

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“There have been a lot of failures. They need to understand. The think tank needs to understand if these flashes of brilliance are acceptable to them, if these failures are acceptable to them, or if they want solid, sturdy, confident starts, which Babar and Rizwan have always provided.”

Ayub was catapulted into the international reckoning for Pakistan after the 2023 PSL, in which he opened for Peshawar Zalmi alongside Babar. He scored 341 runs in the tournament at a strike rate of 165.53 in that year’s competition, and had a similarly good season this year, finishing as fifth-highest run scorer.

However, since debuting in T20Is, Ayub has averaged 15.88 with the bat at a strike rate of 131.06 in the format. Since the end of this year’s PSL, Ayub has been out in single digits in three out of the six innings he has played. In the innings he’s made it into double figures, he scored 32 off 22 and 20 off 15 against New Zealand, as well as his 45 off 29 in the series opener against Ireland.

Ayub has been regularly opening alongside Rizwan since the beginning of this year, with Babar moving down to No.3. No opening partnership in T20I history has scored more runs than Babar and Rizwan, who average 48.97 when they open that batting together in the format. Their run rate, however, is the lowest of any opening pair who have scored more than 1000 runs (7.92).