Shahid Afridi: “You have to keep pressure. The stronger the bench is, the more careful the player will be about his performance. Rizwan hasn’t been performing”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Former Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi said wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan has not been performing in Test cricket lately.
In Pakistan’s last Test assignment, which was a two-match series against Sri Lanka, Rizwan only made 120 runs at an average of 30.
Afridi feels that in order to ensure the 30-year-old is “more careful” when batting, Pakistan must put pressure on him by selecting a stronger group of bench players who could potentially replace him.
“You have to keep pressure. The stronger the bench is, the more careful the player will be about his performance. Rizwan hasn’t been performing,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan.
Rizwan was with the men in green in Christchurch, where they took part in a T20 tri-series against New Zealand and Bangladesh. The men in green went on to win the tournament as they beat New Zealand by five wickets in the final.
They are now featuring in the T20 World Cup and started with a nail-biting four-wicket loss to India off the last ball.
In that match, Rizwan had a rare failure with the bat as he was dismissed by India left-arm seamer Arshdeep Singh for four runs.
The men in green will now take on Zimbabwe on Thursday in Perth.
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