Mohammad Rizwan: “One of the finest WK batters Pakistan cricket has produced so far”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Mohammad Rizwan has praised Sarfaraz Ahmed as one of the best wicketkeeper-batsmen Pakistan has ever produced.
Sarfaraz used to captain the team in all three formats and even led them to Champions Trophy glory in 2017.
During Pakistan’s two-Test series against New Zealand from December 2022 to January 2023, he replaced Rizwan in the Test team’s playing XI.
Having been given a chance to revive his international career, the 36-year-old amassed 335 runs, which included a century and three fifties, at an average of 83.75.
In Pakistan’s most recent Test assignment, which was a two-match series against Sri Lanka in July 2023, he made 32 runs at an average of 16. It should be noted that Sarfaraz was replaced by Rizwan during the second Test in Colombo as he was struck on the helmet. Rizwan proceeded to bat in the match and made 50 not out.
“One of the finest WK batters Pakistan cricket has produced so far,” Rizwan said on Twitter.
Following the Sri Lanka Test series, Rizwan scored 90 runs, which included a top score of 67, at an average of 30 in the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan.
Most recently, he featured in the Asia Cup, where he finished with 195 runs, which included two fifties, at an average of 97.50.
Pakistan kicked off their campaign with a comprehensive 238-run win over Nepal before sharing one point apiece with India as their match was washed out.
Despite this, the men in green progressed to the Super Four stage and demolished Bangladesh by seven wickets.
From here, everything started to go wrong for Pakistan as India thumped them by 228 runs.
Pakistan still had a chance to make it to the Asia Cup final, but fell short in their bid to do so as they lost to Sri Lanka by two wickets via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 Asia Cup:Â Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shahnawaz Dahani, Zaman Khan.
Travelling reserve:Â Tayyab Tahir