Mohammad Rizwan: “You are definitely one of the greatest batsmen Pakistan has ever seen. Your honesty, love, integrity, thoughts, and efforts for Pakistan as the captain are the things to look up to. May you continue to shine for Pakistan, Ameen”

Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani

Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan has called Babar Azam “one of the greatest batsmen” the country has ever produced.

His comments come after Azam stepped down as captain in all three formats following the team’s elimination from the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup.

Azam has been the team’s most consistent run-scorer over the past few years, but his form has dipped slightly over the past few months.

He rediscovered some consistency during the World Cup as he amassed 320 runs in nine matches, which included four fifties, at an average of 40.

Knowing full well what the 29-year-old is capable of doing, Rizwan hopes to see Azam get back to his best and shine for Pakistan in the future.

“You are definitely one of the greatest batsmen Pakistan has ever seen. Your honesty, love, integrity, thoughts, and efforts for Pakistan as the captain are the things to look up to. May you continue to shine for Pakistan, Ameen,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

In the World Cup, Rizwan scored 395 runs in nine games, which included a century and a fifty, at an average of 65.83.

Pakistan triumphed in their first two matches against the Netherlands and Sri Lanka before losing four in a row to India, Australia, Afghanistan and South Africa.

Despite fighting back to defeat Bangladesh and New Zealand, they failed to advance to the semi-finals.

To add insult to injury, the men in green lost their final group stage game against England by 93 runs.

Azam and Rizwan will now feature in Pakistan’s three-match Test series against Australia, which starts on December 14 in Perth.

Pakistan Squad for Australia Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Sarfaraz Ahmed (wk), Saud Shakeel and Shaheen Shah Afridi

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