Mohammad Amir: “Even though Mohammad Rizwan is so brave and captaining like a warrior, in batting he does seem stuck. He should play freely, he is the captain, he should play with a fresh mind and perform”
Image taken by: Bimal Mirwani
Pakistan left-arm seamer Mohammad Amir has advised limited overs captain Mohammad Rizwan to “play freely” in order to score more runs.
Rizwan has been one of Pakistan’s most consistent performers in all three formats over the past couple of years and Amir loves the fact the 32-year-old is “so brave”.
That said, the Gujar Khan native has noticed Rizwan is batting slower than usual and thus urged him to “play with a fresh mind” so that his performance returns to the level it should be at.
“Even though Mohammad Rizwan is so brave and captaining like a warrior, in batting he does seem stuck. He should play freely, he is the captain, he should play with a fresh mind and perform,” Amir said on his YouTube channel as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.
Rizwan made his captaincy debut during Pakistan’s white-ball series against Australia and kicked things off with 74 runs in three ODIs at an average of 74.
In the T20Is that followed, the Peshawar native scored 16 runs in two games at an average of eight.
Once the Australia series concluded, Pakistan embarked on a tour of Zimbabwe and Rizwan made 56 runs in three ODIs at an average of 56.
Pakistan and Zimbabwe then played a three-match T20I series, but Rizwan did not feature in it.
The men in green have now begun their tour of South Africa, which consists of three T20Is, three ODIs and two Tests.
They are 1-0 down in the T20I series going into the second match on December 14 in Centurion.
In the 1st T20I, Rizwan did well with the bat, scoring 74 runs off 62 balls, which included five boundaries and three sixes.
The ODI and Test series will start on December 17 and December 26 respectively.
Pakistan Squad for South Africa T20I Series: Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Jahandad Khan, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Omair Bin Yousuf, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan (wicketkeeper)
Pakistan Squad for South Africa ODI Series: Mohammad Rizwan (captain and wicketkeeper), Abdullah Shafique, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan (wicketkeeper)
Pakistan Squad for South Africa Test Series: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel (vice-captain), Aamer Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Haseebullah Khan (wicketkeeper), Kamran Ghulam, Khurram Shahzad, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper), Naseem Shah, Noman Ali, Saim Ayub and Salman Ali Agha
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