LAHORE: Wicketkeeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan has said that he has worked hard on his batting and wicket keeping and would show his best performance in the series against England.
While talking to PCB’s Digital, Mohammad Rizwan said “I have worked really hard on my batting and wicket-keeping skills before the tour of England last year. In England, the conditions were tough and the red ball swings late, so to get command over it, you have to work extra hard on it. In white-ball cricket, English conditions are favorable to score runs on board. If you stay longer on the wicket, you will get more out of it. I have worked on it and will try to implement this in the forthcoming series.”
Rizwan maintained that he has always enjoyed batting but unfortunately could not perform well in this department at the start of his international career, but change in batting order has favored him a lot. Current team management has shown their confidence by promoting his batting order and he tried to capitalize it well, he added.
Rizwan said, “At the start of my international career, no one believed that I could hit long sixes but off course I worked on my hard hitting ability. I was fortunate enough to get tips from Mohammad Hafeez, Mushtaq Ahmed and Shahid Afridi. Once Ramiz Raja was walking beside the nets and he asked me to keep the head still, which helped me a lot.”
He said, “As a wicketkeeper-batsman, Test cricket requires commitment from me and if you are a cricketer and featuring in all three formats, you must have great fitness.”
It may be added that Rizwan made his white-ball debut in the series against Bangladesh in Bangladesh in April 2015, while he made his debut in the Test cricket against New Zealand at Hamilton in November 2016. Rizwan has featured in 15 Tests for Pakistan, where he has scored 820 runs at 43.15 with six half-centuries and one hundred. He has 38 dismissals to his name which included 37 catches and one stumping.
In 38 ODIs played so far, Rizwan has scored 772 runs at 28.59, with two hundreds and three half-centuries to his name. He has taken 34 catches and has one stumping. Since 1 May 2020, he has featured in six ODIs, scoring 67 runs. He has taken five catches behind the wickets during this period.
Similarly, he has played 36 T20Is, where he has scored 843 runs at 44.36, one hundred and six half-centuries to his name. He has 18 catches and six stumping to his name in this format. Since last year, in 20 T20Is, he has scored 663 runs at 82.87 which included one hundred and six half-centuries. Behind the wickets, he has 19 scalps to his name which includes 15 catches and four stumping.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021