Mohammad Rizwan: “May your cricketing career keep flourishing”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Mohammad Rizwan said he wants to see fellow Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed’s career “keep flourishing” after he made his comeback into the Test team.
Sarfaraz returned to the Test side during the two-Test series against New Zealand from December 2022 to January 2023 and had a major impact, scoring 335 runs, which included a century and three fifties, at an average of 83.75.
Ironically, it was Rizwan’s spot that Sarfaraz took as the 31-year-old from Peshawar had put up a string of poor performances.
Regardless of this, Rizwan still wished Sarfaraz all the best and is happy to see him doing well.
“May your cricketing career keep flourishing,” he said on Twitter.
Sarfaraz subsequently played in Pakistan’s two-Test series against Sri Lanka and made 32 runs at an average of 16. It should be noted that he was replaced by Rizwan during the second Test in Colombo after being struck on the helmet. Rizwan went on to score an unbeaten 50 in that match.
Following this, Rizwan featured in the three-match ODI series against Afghanistan and amassed 90 runs, which included a top score of 67, at an average of 30.
Most recently, he was involved in the Asia Cup, where he accumulated 195 runs, which included two fifties, at an average of 97.50.
Pakistan kicked off their campaign with a 238-run win over Nepal before sharing one point apiece with India as their match was abandoned due to rain.
Having advanced to the Super Four stage, the men in green continued to impress as they took down Bangladesh by seven wickets.
It was after this that things started to go wrong for Pakistan as they lost to India by 228 runs.
Still in with a chance to make it to the Asia Cup final, the men in green failed to do so as Sri Lanka beat them by two wickets via the Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method (DLS) method.
Pakistan Squad for 2023 Asia Cup: 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: Tayyab Tahir