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Could the Babar Azam & Mohammad Rizwan opening partnership cost Pakistan at the T20 World Cup?

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Quick runs in the first few overs seems to be the key in the upcoming T20 World Cup and could ultimately decide who wins the Trophy.

Can Babar and Rizwan lay that foundation for the likes of Fakhar Zaman and others?

Should Pakistan stick with Rizwan and Babar opening or is time for a change?
 
The opening pair is settled and works best. Two warm up matches shouldnt change our opinions.
 
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Difference between Indian openers and Pakistan openers is that the Indian batsmen will hit you for 6 even on good balls, whereas Babar and Rizwan will look to wait for the bad balls which will increase the dot ball percentage.

Our openers will put pressure on the rest of the team even if they don’t get out, but the Indian openers will take the pressure off the team unless they get out early.
 
Babar is captain
Rizwan is vice captain

They are loved by the management and a large section of fans. They will do what suits them best, and enhances their personal run tally whilst believing their runs are the most crucial to the team. So they will not change positions no matter what because they know very well that they cannot bat anywhere near as good as they potentially can as openers in any other position. Especially Rizwan, he isn’t even good enough to have in the top 6 if he isn’t opening, and you would prefer to have Hassan Ali to go in before he does at the death as well.

What I can guarantee is that it Pakistan had a bold captain who cares about the team and not his individual performance to make it look like he is a ‘performing captain’, then Rizwan will not be in the side…whilst Babar will be batting at 3 or 4.
 
No this pitches low scoring affair. Babar and Rizwan can build good steady partnership and than fakhar can play a cameo.
 
Don't think so.

Rizwan and Babar will be key in ensuring we can get off to a steady start and give our middle order a platform to work with post powerplay.

Both have also shown that when they get set, they can go big and give clutch performances.

Also it's a weird myth that Rizwan and Babar bat at a low strike right or play for themselves when our two highest totals (230 vs England and 205 chasing vs South Africa) came on the back of 150+ partnership between Babar and Rizwan.

That being said Rizwan does like a tad out of touch so it is an area of concern, however I expect him to come good
 
Based on what we saw in the National T20 these two are the best options we have.

Ideally, we would have someone like a pre-ban Sharjeel, but there no one like that in our ranks right now.
 
octavian said:
Based on what we saw in the National T20 these two are the best options we have.

Ideally, we would have someone like a pre-ban Sharjeel, but there no one like that in our ranks right now.
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Well. You didn’t watch the national cup did you?

Sharjeel was better than Rizwan by a country mile.
 
Rana said:
Well. You didn’t watch the national cup did you?

Sharjeel was better than Rizwan by a country mile.
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1 domestic tournament doesn't mean anything. Rizwan has been the best t20 batsman in the world this year - just because he is a bit out of form doesn't mean we drop him.
Sharjeel is a glorified hack that works against the rubbish national t20 cup trundlers.
 
Minnowbasher said:
1 domestic tournament doesn't mean anything. Rizwan has been the best t20 batsman in the world this year - just because he is a bit out of form doesn't mean we drop him.
Sharjeel is a glorified hack that works against the rubbish national t20 cup trundlers.
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MashaAllah. Another avid viewer of the national cup who claims Sharjeel is a hack and only scores against Trundlers.

Maybe someone share the video of him batting against Shaheen this year, also that 100 he hit. I believe Hassan Ali was also taken to the cleaners by him
 
Don't think so.

Quick runs may matter elsewhere. But in UAE, 150-160 could easily be a match-winning total. And it will be tough for teams to breach 200.

And scores like that will be ideal for a team like Pakistan. If they are chasing having Rizwan or Babar bat till the end will be key. Whereas, while defending we all know how good Pakistani bowlers are with totals like that...in those conditions.

Also goes without saying that Babar and Rizwan's combo has been the most successful partnership in T20 cricket in the last year. And when it comes to century stands, they already have 3 which is a remarkable number for a format like T20s...and that too in such a short time.
 
Sharjeel-Rizwan comparisons are utterly meaningless. Because Rizwan is an elite athlete/cricketer who performs for Pakistan in all three formats and is unquestionably the best wicketkeeper in the world today.

Sharjeel is a one-dimensional leg-side hack who cannot rotate the strike and is egregiously unfit for international cricket; both physically and from a skill-set perspective. Because he has no skills. The idea of him playing a World Cup is truly laughable.
 
If they succeed we have a chance, if they fail we will lose. They are our 2 best batsman and if they can score, fat guys like Sharjeel etc certainly won't score.
 
RedwoodOriginal said:
Sharjeel-Rizwan comparisons are utterly meaningless. Because Rizwan is an elite athlete/cricketer who performs for Pakistan in all three formats and is unquestionably the best wicketkeeper in the world today.

Sharjeel is a one-dimensional leg-side hack who cannot rotate the strike and is egregiously unfit for international cricket. The idea of him playing a World Cup is truly laughable.
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Ireland have Paul Stirling who is currently their best batsman. Afghanistans keeper bat Shahzad is an absolute gun too. I understand you will look to find an excuse to defend Rizwan, but I don’t think the fat shaming one is fair.
 
Bewal Express said:
If they succeed we have a chance, if they fail we will lose. They are our 2 best batsman and if they can score, fat guys like Sharjeel etc certainly won't score.
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They both failed today

Pakistan still posted a gigantic score. Maybe post something like this on a day when it actually makes sense
 
Post-ban sharjeel is too inconsistent and unfit. Rizwan has been a proven consistent performer in all 3 formats over the past 2 years all over the world.

Not sure why this is even a debate.
 
octavian said:
Post-ban sharjeel is too inconsistent and unfit. Rizwan has been a proven consistent performer in all 3 formats over the past 2 years all over the world.

Not sure why this is even a debate.
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The opportunities provided to him at international level are not as consistent as the opportunities provided to Rizwan by Misbah
 
Rizwan's T20I stats in 2021 just for reference

17 matches: 752 runs with an average of 94 at a strike rate of 140.

Not too bad in my opinion
 
Rana said:
Ireland have Paul Stirling who is currently their best batsman. Afghanistans keeper bat Shahzad is an absolute gun too. I understand you will look to find an excuse to defend Rizwan, but I don’t think the fat shaming one is fair.
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Citing the examples of the best batsmen of two minnow sides isn't exactly a shining endorsement of your view-point. And honestly, they should be ashamed of themselves as well. Call it what you want, I really don't care. No international level cricketer in this day and age should look the way that these three do.

But even then, there is little to no comparison between Stirling and Sharjeel. Because Stirling is a dynamic batsman who can hit all around the wicket and isn't a one-dimensional leg-side hack like Sharjeel. And Striling's numbers are evident of that fact.

As for Rizwan, I think it is you who has an agenda against him from day one. I don't need to find reasons to defend him because the numbers are right there.

No batsman in the world has scored more T20I runs than him this year. No batsman in the world has scored more T20I half-centuries than him this year. He has featured in multiple century stands with Babar this year. He has scored a T20I century, and has even led his PSL side to their maiden PSL trophy...all in the space of 8 months. These are things that Sharjeel can't even achieve in his wildest dreams, let alone 8 months.
 
Abdurmirr said:
Rizwan's T20I stats in 2021 just for reference

17 matches: 752 runs with an average of 94 at a strike rate of 140.

Not too bad in my opinion
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Not good enough. Sharjeel scored at an average of 298 with a strike rate of 487 against the likes of Bumrah and Starc on Mars. Can Rizwan match that?

I don't think so. He may be a spectacular fielder/keeper, decent batsman, and an ethical man who has worked his butt off, but he'll never be a fixer like Sharjeel. In Pakistan, the most attribute is having a past of fixing which is why we'll promote guys like Sharjeel and Amir every opportunity we get.
 
Great reality check for those Rizwan fans who were raving about his performances against ‘Soth Afreeeka’

He packed runs against their C team as the a team left Pakistan for the T20 leg and also left SA for IPL when Pakistan were there.

This serves them right.

AA raha hai India on Sunday. Get ready now, this is the real deal. We are gonna need that average of 97 and strike rate of 140+ now more than ever!
 
This is a strategy that we have adopted for the whole year and in international games it has been successful. We are reading too much in to these warm up games which means nothing. They are just practice games for your hitting and blowing lengths.

The opening pair has been successful this year, and we should go with what we have practiced. If we experiment something new now than we would be in more trouble .

You can take advantage of PP by either going full flow and score 50-70 runs, or you can score a steady 40-50 runs in the partnership with the only loss of 1 wicket.

The advantage of Babar and Rizwan is that one of them will bat till the end. And as they bat the strike rate improves.

You bring in Rizwan at no.4 or 5, he cant hit the ball. He needs an over to just judge the length and ball
 
I don't mind india not picking a wicket in power plays if we are to concede 7 rpo
 
Middle over could cost Pakistan and this opening pair is there to cover it.
 
jusarrived said:
I don't mind india not picking a wicket in power plays if we are to concede 7 rpo
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This.

And that’s why you have people like Trent Boult giving wholesome interviews praising Mohammad Rizwan. Keep fooling the gullible Pakistan fans who would rather see their favourites score 50 off 40 and realise Pakistan were 30 runs short later on!
 
Rana said:
Great reality check for those Rizwan fans who were raving about his performances against ‘Soth Afreeeka’

He packed runs against their C team as the a team left Pakistan for the T20 leg and also left SA for IPL when Pakistan were there.

This serves them right.

AA raha hai India on Sunday. Get ready now, this is the real deal. We are gonna need that average of 97 and strike rate of 140+ now more than ever!
Click to expand...

Yeah. I really wish we had Sharjeel for this upcoming India game. During the last WC, he tore India apart from his blistering strokeplay. He scored 17 runs from merely 24 balls. Unreal hitting from the lad!

https://www.espncricinfo.com/series...-match-super-10-group-2-951341/full-scorecard
 
One of them neens to attack from the 1st over. If you want to win the cup you need to go big from ball 1.
There are several issues within the team, the opening partnership is not the biggest worry.
 
80% of matches are won by teams who scored more in the power play than their opponents. By that stat, Babar and Rizwan are limited in their ability and stroke play and will be bogged down by the indian bowling attack..and there the match could get decided.
 
Major said:
You can take advantage of PP by either going full flow and score 50-70 runs, or you can score a steady 40-50 runs in the partnership with the only loss of 1 wicket.
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This is probably the most Misbah post in this thread. This is what he would say to justify himself as a poor White ball captain/coach
 
Rana said:
Babar is captain
Rizwan is vice captain

They are loved by the management and a large section of fans. They will do what suits them best, and enhances their personal run tally whilst believing their runs are the most crucial to the team. So they will not change positions no matter what because they know very well that they cannot bat anywhere near as good as they potentially can as openers in any other position. Especially Rizwan, he isn’t even good enough to have in the top 6 if he isn’t opening, and you would prefer to have Hassan Ali to go in before he does at the death as well.

What I can guarantee is that it Pakistan had a bold captain who cares about the team and not his individual performance to make it look like he is a ‘performing captain’, then Rizwan will not be in the side…whilst Babar will be batting at 3 or 4.
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Rizwan will fail badly against good teams ; I have been saying this for long.. His technique is no better than Sarfaraz and he is accumulating useless runs against worst bowling attacks
 
Rana said:
The opportunities provided to him at international level are not as consistent as the opportunities provided to Rizwan by Misbah
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Opportunities shouldn't get handed to you on a silver platter. You have to make your own luck.

5 years ago, Rizwan was a mediocre cricketer who was lucky to ever play for Pakistan because of where Sarfraz was at. Meanwhile, Sharjeel was fast developing into one of the most dangerous openers in the world and a genuine force to be reckoned with.

Rizwan, perhaps realizing where he was at worked hard and heaped runs upon runs in domestic cricket. 2017-19 was a great period for him where his consistency and prolific run-scoring in both QeA Trophy & Pakistan Cup was impossible to ignore. Which earned him his place back in the side. Not because he was someone's son or cousin or favorite. But because he worked hard, improved his game and above all, scored runs. By 2020, he had rightfully earned a place in the T20 side too based on his performance in the NT20 Cup. And today he is one of the lynchpins of Pakistan's side and one of the handful world-class players we have.

Meanwhile, Sharjeel who was on his way up to becoming the exciting opener Pakistan had in years, and in all likeliness would have gotten the full-backing of the team management, got involved in match-fixing and threw everything he had right out the window.


That's the difference between Sharjeel and Rizwan. Not that one was given more opportunities than the other. But because one simply worked harder, had more commitment and was and is a better cricketer in every single way than the other. Not to mention, Rizwan wasn't a characterless and corrupt individual who would ever get involved in match-fixing to begin with.
 
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Babar and Rizwan as an opening pair are the only reason Pakistan might potentially win a game at the world cup.

Opening with Sharjeel and Fakhar would've been a disaster. Fakhar looks better at 3 with less pressure and Sharjeel is hugely overrated by PPers!
 
Oxfordchamp said:
80% of matches are won by teams who scored more in the power play than their opponents. By that stat, Babar and Rizwan are limited in their ability and stroke play and will be bogged down by the indian bowling attack..and there the match could get decided.
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The pp gets abit exagerrated. Yes, matches are won by taking advantage of PP, but dont look at the runs only.

look at wickets in hand to. If you score 50-4, you are doomed.

The advantage of hacing Babar or Rizwan to carry forward the game is that they can attack in non PP overs aswell. Other teams have had it difficult to score shots on non PP overs. Our openers give us this advantage.
 
Shaka81 said:
Babar and Rizwan as an opening pair are the only reason Pakistan might potentially win a game at the world cup.

Opening with Sharjeel and Fakhar would've been a disaster. Fakhar looks better at 3 with less pressure and Sharjeel is hugely overrated by PPers!
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The fact that Sharjeel is even rated at all makes me question the cricketing acumen of certain posters here. Watching him bat once nowadays is enough to show anyone what a one-dimensional hack he is.
 
Oxfordchamp said:
80% of matches are won by teams who scored more in the power play than their opponents. By that stat, Babar and Rizwan are limited in their ability and stroke play and will be bogged down by the indian bowling attack..and there the match could get decided.
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Source(s) please

Major said:
The pp gets abit exagerrated. Yes, matches are won by taking advantage of PP, but dont look at the runs only.

look at wickets in hand to. If you score 50-4, you are doomed.

The advantage of hacing Babar or Rizwan to carry forward the game is that they can attack in non PP overs aswell. Other teams have had it difficult to score shots on non PP overs. Our openers give us this advantage.
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If the above stat is true, then you can't call the PP exaggerated with a 80% win rate.
 
Kroll said:
Source(s) please



If the above stat is true, then you can't call the PP exaggerated with a 80% win rate.
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reread my post.

PP is not about runs only, its about wickets in hand to.

If you have60-4 by the end of PP you will struggle to score runs in the later part
 
There is no reason why we should not have defended 186, today was bowlers fault
 
Major said:
reread my post.

PP is not about runs only, its about wickets in hand to.

If you have60-4 by the end of PP you will struggle to score runs in the later part
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I read it carefully, his post only mentioned greater number of runs so no. of wickets is irrelevant here because you'll still win 80% of games which is a very high win ratio.
 
Shaheen, Hasan and Rauf are all unreliable death bowlers, so the batters need to be very positive up front and score as many otherwise the team won't a stand a chance.
 
Kroll said:
I read it carefully, his post only mentioned greater number of runs so no. of wickets is irrelevant here because you'll still win 80% of games which is a very high win ratio.
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That's only based on his claim though, need to see an official source to confirm this stat.
 
Alter_Ego said:
Shaheen, Hasan and Rauf are all unreliable death bowlers, so the batters need to be very positive up front and score as many otherwise the team won't a stand a chance.
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True, and Shaheen especially has been poor overall, going at 10+rpo game after game.
 
I think it was one of Mike Atherton or Nasser Hussain who said that matches will be decided in the powerplays in their show on sky cricket. They said that teams who scored more in powerplay went onto win 80% of matches in Uae.
 
Oxfordchamp said:
I think it was one of Mike Atherton or Nasser Hussain who said that matches will be decided in the powerplays in their show on sky cricket. They said that teams who scored more in powerplay went onto win 80% of matches in Uae.
Click to expand...

Yes those first 6 overs will determine many of the results in my opinion.
 
Rizwan and Babar are pakistans best t20 batsmen They have successfully opened in partnrrship for pakistan this year You cant question their stats or success
They will continue to be a success and should continue to open for pakistan
 
I think we've missed a trick by not trying Kamran Akmal and Imran Farhst st the top of the order..
 
I think Rizwan and Babar will surprise us on 24th; I believe they will play very aggressively.

They have been hearing and reading so much about their poor SR in PP, and you can see how they were trying to be over-aggressive in the warm up games, taking unnecessary risks. Notice how Rizwan got out today.
 
IMMY69 said:
I think we've missed a trick by not trying Kamran Akmal and Imran Farhst st the top of the order..
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We definitely missed a trick by not selecting Fakhar and Sharjeel as our 2 openers however
 
Zaz said:
Change the tune man This is getting boring
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No I will not. I have no personal agenda here in speaking what I truly feel about this horrid situation we find ourselves in because of Misbah doing his favourites a favour. I will continue to voice this concern as long as I live and can do so! We do not compete with the world’s best teams because we do not understand how to take the right decisions without worrying about fitting people in! You will have to hope that I do not wake up to see the light of day, but I will not stop expressing my opinion if I know I am right!
 
Agree that Rizwans stats inflated and he is not ideal T20 opener to partner Babar but is laughable to suggest that Sharjeel at his current form and weight class is an upgrade.

Disingenuous comparisons with Shahzad/Stirling shouldn't be brought in. These are players who for majority of their formative years in cricket had no idea/hope of professionalism or central contracts since their teams are small. Granted it is poor of them to lose fitness but to be fair they have atleast maintained their performance in the B & C-level T20 leagues and in their intl opportunities against tier 2 opposition to justify their selection.

Whereas Sharjeel is part of a big team and a setup where cricket was a viable career option from his formative years. There is little excuse for him reaching intl cricket in state he was in and even if we forgive that there is no excuse for him staying like that despite a 2 yr ban.
Sharjeel has had multiple opportunities to work on his fitness and demonstrate his commitment to being the best player he can be but he has shown his work ethic and resolve as being just at the level of a happy domestic basher.
 
If thats the case, then why have been persisted with for the last 2 years as the openers? No one in the coaching setup saw that ultimately it won't work at the WC? I personally have faith in the model of cricket them two have been playing, UAE is the one place where it might come off.

If it had been AUS or UK, then no, but on UAE some pitches can be tricky to start on.
 
pratiktc said:
Agree that Rizwans stats inflated and he is not ideal T20 opener to partner Babar but is laughable to suggest that Sharjeel at his current form and weight class is an upgrade.

Disingenuous comparisons with Shahzad/Stirling shouldn't be brought in. These are players who for majority of their formative years in cricket had no idea/hope of professionalism or central contracts since their teams are small. Granted it is poor of them to lose fitness but to be fair they have atleast maintained their performance in the B & C-level T20 leagues and in their intl opportunities against tier 2 opposition to justify their selection.

Whereas Sharjeel is part of a big team and a setup where cricket was a viable career option from his formative years. There is little excuse for him reaching intl cricket in state he was in and even if we forgive that there is no excuse for him staying like that despite a 2 yr ban.
Sharjeel has had multiple opportunities to work on his fitness and demonstrate his commitment to being the best player he can be but he has shown his work ethic and resolve as being just at the level of a happy domestic basher.
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People are allowed to lose hope and become depressed as well in life. I wouldn’t rule that out in Sharjeel’s case. We do not know the true reasons as to why he gained weight in his time off from cricket instead of coming back as a much fitter player. Depression and mental health can be suffered by South Asian players too.

Considering how his case was handled, it isn’t easy to keep a stable mind.
 
babar is a good batsman;
but what so hype about Rizwan (He always scored runs against C/D grade bowling attacks)
 
Rana said:
No I will not. I have no personal agenda here in speaking what I truly feel about this horrid situation we find ourselves in because of Misbah doing his favourites a favour. I will continue to voice this concern as long as I live and can do so! We do not compete with the world’s best teams because we do not understand how to take the right decisions without worrying about fitting people in! You will have to hope that I do not wake up to see the light of day, but I will not stop expressing my opinion if I know I am right!
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Well you obviously do have some personal agenda as everything you excuse Rizwan of being is just nonsense.

Sarfraz was still captaining our side when Misbah came to the helm - despite being terrible with the bat for a good year- and was only replaced by Rizwan after he conceded 3-0 to Sri Lanka at home.

In his first test innings on return Rizwan scored 95 vs Australia at the Gabba and continued his good form in England and New Zealand, places where Sarfraz was a dud. So please explain how was Rizwan's inclusion in the test team part of some agenda to displace Sarfraz.

In regards to T20s, Rizwan was made a makeshift opener for the series against New Zealand as both Fakhar and Babar were N/A and Rizwan was in decent form post the national T20 cup. He failed in the first two games, however in the 3rd he one us a run chase off 180+ against a line up of Jamieson, Southee and Boult.

So once again explain how Rizwan seizing an opportunity given to him by the absence of our two openers, makes him some kinda of "pawn" in Misbah's scheme to dethrone Sarfraz
 
They need to make it count today, this score should be within range for Pakistan if these two bat well during the powerplay.
 
Absolute clinic from both today.

Well deserved for all their hard work over the last 8 months
 
But but we need Sharjeel and Zaman to open :)))

Thank God arm chair critics arent calling the shots
 
They're the perfect opening pair for UAE conditions.

In more flatter conditions, I would want Fakhar opening instead of one of the two.
 
[MENTION=2016]Rana[/MENTION] did you enjoy Riswan’s batting today :yk3
 
[MENTION=2016]Rana[/MENTION] where you at now???? Hahahahah you make fun of yourself every time
 
But but but if Sharjeel was there match would have finished in 15 overs lol.
Babar and Rizwan are the best batsmen in Pakistan right now and best opening pair in t20.
 
Hahha [MENTION=2016]Rana[/MENTION] seriously. Wickets in hand are so important here in the UAE. With the exception of Sharjah, the other grounds will be 140-170 scores and these 2 are perfect for that scenario
 
Played brilliantly and despite what some keep saying,they are our strength and If they score we have a good chance to win
 
Boys

Today the streak has come to an end.

Enjoy it, let’s all enjoy it!

you can all torch me tomorrow for Rizwan
 
This should settle every debate around who is the best wicket keeper batsman in Pakistan. No more Rizwan vs Sarfaraz debate please!
 
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