Top 10 opening batsmen in ODIs at the moment

#9 Azhar Ali

Azhar Ali during the Champions Trophy final against India

Over the last few years, the Pakistani team have been looking for an opening batsman half as good as Saeed Anwar. They have tried the likes of Mohammad Hafeez, Kamran Akmal, Ahmed Shahzad and even skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, but none of them have been able to cement their place in the team as an opener.

After the 2015 World Cup, the PCB team management took a bold call and trusted Test specialist Azhar Ali, handing him the ODI captaincy as well. Captaincy made him a more responsible batsman at the top of the order and since then, he has been the team's second most successful batsman in the format after Babar Azam.

Azhar has made sure that the team have gotten off to solid starts on a consistent basis and has been a rock in their batting order. In the 33 matches he has played in the duration, Azhar has amassed 1288 runs at an average of 39 and a strike-rate of 79 with the help of three centuries and seven fifties.

Having said that, Azhar has to improve his scoring rate as a strike-rate of 79 is not good enough in the modern-day game.