Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan: “It was my first match against India, it was a normal match for me. I got so much respect and appreciation from the people back home which I’m not able to describe in words”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan said the “respect and appreciation” he received after the men in green demolished India by 10 wickets in the 2021 T20 World Cup was something he is “not able to describe in words”.
Rizwan played an instrumental role in helping Pakistan cruise to victory in the match as he struck an unbeaten 79, which came off 55 balls and included six boundaries and three sixes.
Thanks to his efforts, Pakistan beat India for the first time in a World Cup match.
“The cricket fans of Pakistan showed an immense and unexpected level of love when we defeated India in [the 2021] T20 World Cup,” Rizwan said on a Twitter Space session held by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
“It was my first match against India, it was a normal match for me. I got so much respect and appreciation from the people back home which I’m not able to describe in words.”
The 30-year-old recently played in the T20 tri-series against New Zealand and Bangladesh in Christchurch, where he accumulated 201 runs in five matches, which included two half-centuries, at an average of 50.25 and a strike-rate of 122.56.
He will now represent his country in the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.
Pakistan’s World Cup clash against India will take place on October 23 in Melbourne.
Pakistan’s 2022 T20 World Cup squad: Babar Azam (captain), Shadab Khan (vice-captain), Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Iftikhar Ahmed, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi and Shan Masood
Reserves: Mohammad Haris, Shahnawaz Dahani and Usman Qadir