Basit Ali and Rizwan (Twitter)
Former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali recently came forward and expressed his opinion over how star batter Mohammad Rizwan should be made captain of Pakistan’s Test side. Ali even suggested that Pakistan will have a better chance of defeating England in their upcoming Test series if Rizwan is made skipper.
Interestingly, Shan Masood has recently replaced Babar Azam as the new Pakistan Test skipper after the latter stepped down from the role in every format after Pakistan’s performance in the ODI World Cup 2023.
However, ever since Masood has taken over the captaincy, he has failed to win any match, losing five out of the five games that he has led Pakistan in. Talking of the same, Basit Ali opined that Rizwan should replace Masood.
“Pakistan will win the Test series against England if Mohammad Rizwan is made the captain. You will see a different Babar Azam in the England series, but the condition is that the captain should be Rizwan,” Basit Ali said in a video on his YouTube channel.
If he scores a century against Pakistan, I won’t spare the bowlers: Basit
Furthermore, Basit Ali talked about the form of star England batter Joe Root and how he has always managed to perform well against Sri Lanka. However, he also revealed that the Pakistan bowlers would face his wrath if Joe Root goes on to score a century against them in the upcoming games.
“Joe Root has always performed against Sri Lanka. The English media have been saying that Root will break Sachin Tendulkar’s record. He won’t break that record. If he scores a century against Pakistan, I won’t spare the bowlers. Tendulkar’s stature is different, he was a very big player,” Ali said.
It is worth noting that Pakistan will face England across three Tests, with the first Test set to kick off from October 7 in Multan. Pakistan, who recently are coming on the back of a series loss against Bangladesh, could struggle to find their confidence and they will hope to do well against England.