{"id":457686,"date":"2025-01-26T09:29:09","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T04:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadpakistan.com.pk\/news\/?p=457686"},"modified":"2025-01-26T09:29:09","modified_gmt":"2025-01-26T04:29:09","slug":"salman-butt-comments-on-babar-playing-as-opener-in-champions-trophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadpakistan.com.pk\/news\/salman-butt-comments-on-babar-playing-as-opener-in-champions-trophy\/","title":{"rendered":"Salman Butt comments on Babar playing as opener in Champions Trophy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> islamabad<br \/>\nFormer Pakistan captain Salman Butt has raised concerns about the rumors suggesting that Babar Azam might open the innings in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025.<br \/>\nThe announcement of Pakistan\u2019s squad for the upcoming tri-nation series and the Champions Trophy is just around the corner, sparking various rumors in the media.<br \/>\nThere are speculations that Babar Azam will take on the role of Pakistan\u2019s opening batter in the absence of Saim Ayub, who suffered an unfortunate ankle injury during the second Test against South Africa.<br \/>\nHowever, Salman Butt believes such a move would not only be unfair to Babar but could also backfire strategically.<br \/>\n\u201cI hope it\u2019s only a rumor, and the selectors are not thinking this way because it\u2019s unfair and, strategically, it can backfire,\u201d said Butt in a video on his YouTube channel.<br \/>\n\u201cWe used proper openers in the difficult conditions, and now when we are going to play in suitable conditions where batters can score runs, where Pakistan needs a good start from the top and stability in the middle overs. \u201cBabar Azam can provide that stability [in the middle-order] to last in 50-over cricket.\u201d<br \/>\nHe further questioned the selectors\u2019 thought process, highlighting the lack of a solid middle-order backup for Babar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>islamabad Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has raised concerns about the rumors suggesting that Babar Azam might open the innings in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025. The announcement of Pakistan\u2019s squad for the upcoming tri-nation series and the Champions Trophy is just around the corner, sparking various rumors in the media. There are speculations [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-457686","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Salman Butt comments on Babar playing as opener in Champions Trophy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/leadpakistan.com.pk\/news\/salman-butt-comments-on-babar-playing-as-opener-in-champions-trophy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Salman Butt comments on Babar playing as opener in Champions Trophy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"islamabad Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has raised concerns about the rumors suggesting that Babar Azam might open the innings in the upcoming ICC Champions Trophy 2025. The announcement of Pakistan\u2019s squad for the upcoming tri-nation series and the Champions Trophy is just around the corner, sparking various rumors in the media. There are speculations [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/leadpakistan.com.pk\/news\/salman-butt-comments-on-babar-playing-as-opener-in-champions-trophy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daily Lead Pakistan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DailyLeadPak\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-26T04:29:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Web Desk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@DailyLeadPak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@DailyLeadPak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Web Desk\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" 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