NEW DELHI: The recent public dissatisfaction voiced by former Pakistan captain Babar Azam regarding his batting position in T20 Internationals hints at underlying tensions within the national team's dressing room.
The situation arose following the Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) decision to relieve Babar of his leadership duties across all three formats.
Babar openly expressed his discontent during a media interaction amidst the Pakistan Super League, particularly highlighting his dissatisfaction with being relegated to bat at number three during the T20 series against New Zealand in January.
This discontent surfaced following Pakistan's 1-4 series loss to New Zealand, a period during which the successful opening partnership between Babar and Mohammad Rizwan was disrupted, with Rizwan paired alongside the young Saim Ayub instead.
"It was the Pakistan team's demand at the time. I did that for Pakistan.
"If I was asked individually, I wasn't satisfied with the decision to bat at one down position. However, I did that for Pakistan," Babar said.
He also clarified that he didn't take any pressure opening in the shortest format, either for Pakistan or his PSL franchise Peshawar Zalmi.
Earlier, Rizwan had also expressed his unhappiness at the change in the batting order and said that the management's decision was not fruitful and hurt the side.
"You can say that it [breaking the opening pair] has hurt Pakistan. I can say that Babar bhai has a big heart.
"We both agreed that there is no issue. We both told the management that they can try whatever combination they want," Rizwan said after Pakistan lost the fourth T20I against New Zealand.
The former director of the Pakistan team, Muhammad Hafeez, and the new T20I captain, Shaheen Shah Afridi, had initiated the changes in the batting order.
(With inputs from PTI)
