He’s got fans in every country across the world, has Mohammad Rizwan. We appreciate everything he does, whether it’s his ever-smiling attitude, or his friendly banter with opponents, his wide range of attacking shots, and his consistency in scoring runs across formats. And now, he showed us another side of his batting abilities in a blockathon against England.
Batting on Day 2 of the Pakistan vs England 2022 2nd Test at Multan, Rizwan had a job to do, after Babar Azam was dismissed early on the second day. He wanted to give support to Saud Shakeel and consolidate in the first session of the day before they went on to assert their dominance. And part of this consolidation was an absolutely defensive mindset from Rizwan.
Rizwan takes 28 balls to get off the mark!
He blocked everything that came his way, something we noticed in the 1st Test as well, where he took 20+ balls to get off the mark as well. And when he finally decided to open his account here in the 2nd Test, it was after 28 balls and everyone appreciated the moment when it happened. He got there with a full flowing cover drive for four against the bowling of the fiery Mark Wood.
Rizwan being 0 off 27 contributed to Saud losing his wicket. Killed the whole momentum🤦♂️ #PAKvENG
— Haroon (@hazharoon) December 10, 2022
Rizwan is on 0* (25 balls) so far.
Meanwhile Pakistanis to him :
"Kb khoon kholay ga re tera "
Bhai kasam tor de , score bna lo ….#PAKvENG— Muhammad Moiz Asif (@MoizAsif19) December 10, 2022
The crowds present at the stadium at Multan all gave a bit of a cheer when he finally got off the mark and even Rizwan decided to let out a wry smile. And while it was all fun and games when he got a run, quite a few Pakistani cricket fans wouldn’t have been too happy with his approach because it arrested the momentum of his partner, Saud Shakeel, who unfortunately lost his wicket in the next over itself.
SEE ALSO: List of top online sports betting sites
Regardless of whether he did the right thing or not with this long vigil of not scoring runs, he’s a champion. If he goes on to make a fighting contribution and gets close to that England total of 281 (and maybe even a lead), he’ll have done the job for his team today. In the generation of Bazball and his opponent England scoring at 5+ runs per over every session, this start to his innings was quite the bore.
In fact, a user coined his innings as ‘Pujara-ball’ which is quite the opposite of what we’ve seen on this 2022 England tour of Pakistan so far. At the time of us writing this, Pakistan were 160/4 with the trail still being 121 runs, and Rizwan batting on 5(37)* in the first session of the day. We think England is on the hunt and they may just edge out a few more wickets before Pakistan reach their 1st innings score of 281.
Rizwan playing Pujara-ball
He might score by 2023
— Dil Dill Dennistan (@DennisCricket_) December 10, 2022
Rizwan is a vital part of the Pakistan squad across formats and we’re sure it’s not the only time he’s going to make the news in the next few days and weeks. For more updates on the 2022 England tour of Pakistan and other cricket and sports news from around the world, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com.
Sign-up to Indibet exchange and get 50 FREE bonus
