Pakistan have made one change to their XI for their must-win 2024 T20 World Cup fixture against Canada in New York, bringing Sain Ayub back into the fold for Iftikhar Ahmed.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam confirmed at the toss that Ayub would open the batting when Pakistan come out to bat in the second innings. This means the long-time partnership of Babar and Mohammad Rizwan at the top will be pulled apart once more. The skipper did not say which player would drop to number three, but based on recent history it is likely to be Babar himself.
After a successful Caribbean Premier League season with Guyana Amazon Warriors in which he finished as the second-highest run scorer in the competition, Ayub was selected for Pakistan's red-ball tour of Australia in December where he impressed in his two innings. At the start of this year, he was given a run in Pakistan's T20 team at the top of the order, perhaps indicating the team management's willingness to move on from Babar and Rizwan opening together.
Even as recently as May, Babar appeared to indicate that he would be batting at number three in the T20 World Cup, presumably with Rizwan and Ayub opening the innings. But given his patchy form (163 runs in 12 innings for Pakistan), Ayub was dropped from the team soon after in favour of Usman Khan who batted at three as Rizwan and Babar reunited at the top.
It remains to be seen whether Pakistan's move to reinstate Ayub midway through a faltering campaign will revive it, but his return in place of lower-order batter Iftikhar now means Pakistan's top five consists of five players who have opened the innings on a regular basis; Ayub, Rizwan, Babar, Fakhar Zaman and Usman Khan.
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