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'I got out twice in a similar way. Then, I went to meet Pujara...': Mohammad Rizwan

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Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan is currently in England where he is enjoying a maiden County Championships stint with Sussex. India's veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara is also a part of the side, and has been one of the most consistent batters in the division so far. Pujara has scored 717 runs in four matches for Sussex so far, and is currently the second-highest run-getter in the season.

During a match against Durham, the duo of Pujara and Rizwan forged a 154-run stand; while Pujara went on to score a double-century (203 off 334 balls), Rizwan slammed 79 off 145 balls.

Rizwan has now opened up on sharing the dressing room with Pujara, revealing that he also turned to him for advice after the Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter had made an inconsistent start to the season. Prior to his 79-run knock, Rizwan had scores of 22, 0, and 4 in three innings.

“With Pujara, I had a chat with him after I got out early. He told me a few things and one of them was to play close to the body. And as everyone knows, we have been playing white-ball cricket consistently over the past few years and play a bit away from our body. In white-ball, you don't play very close to your body since the ball doesn't swing or seam as much,” Rizwan said in an interview.

“So early on here, I played away from my body and got out twice in a similar way. Then I went over to meet him in the nets and I remember him saying that when we play in Asia, we force the ball to play the drive. Here, we don't need to do that. And we need to play close to the body. I have played white ball cricket consistently. So these are the things which he told me and whatever he learned from me, he can tell [laughs].”

Sussex will return to action on Thursday when the side takes on Leicestershire.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/cric...-then-i-went-to-meet-him-101652247777338.html
 
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="in" dir="ltr">Rizwan x Pujara pre-match prep. &#55357;&#56908; <a href="https://t.co/g3vVwefsQf">pic.twitter.com/g3vVwefsQf</a></p>— Sussex Cricket (@SussexCCC) <a href="https://twitter.com/SussexCCC/status/1520331080372523008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 30, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan wishes to have focus and concentration levels of his County teammate Cheteshwar Pujara as he looks to improve as a red-ball cricketer. Pujara has made a strong case for a Test comeback with two hundreds and as many double hundreds in his campaign for Sussex in County Championship Division 2. The Indo-Pak pairing had shared a 154-run stand against Durham earlier this month and they playing for the same team has also attracted a lot of positive attention on social media.

Rizwan, who was named the ICC Player of the Year for 2021, rates Pakistan's Younis Khan and Fawad Alam very highly when it comes to batting with unwavering concentration but he has now added Pujara to the list.

"...As far as myself and Pujara are concerned, I didn't feel anything strange (on the lines of India-Pakistan rivalry).

"And hopefully, if you ask him, his answer will be the same as mine. Although I do share a laugh with him and tease him (laughs) and everyone in the team knows this," Rizwan told a website when asked about the time spend with the India veteran.

Heaping praise on Pujara, Rizwan said: "He is a very nice and loving guy. And his concentration and focus too... If you get a chance to learn something, you should do it.

"In terms of concentration levels and I told this to the coaches here too. In my whole career, the players with most focus, concentration are Younis bhai, Fawad Alam and his (Pujara's).

"Pujara is second on my list and Fawad Alam on three in terms of pure concentration and focus. I rate these three players very highly." Regular white-ball cricket can affect your discipline in the longer-format and Rizwan said advice from Pujara helped him on that front.

"...in terms of the focus and concentration levels, there is a time when that starts dropping low ... I will try to figure how these three players have so intense focus and concentration. I keep on talking with Younis bhai, I couldn't talk much with Fawad recently on this.

"And with Pujara, I had a chat with him after I got out early. He told me a few things and one of them was to play close to the body. And as everyone knows, we have been playing white-ball cricket consistently over the past few years and play a bit away from our body." Rizwan said "in white-ball, you don't play very close to your body since the ball doesn't swing or seam as much." "So early on here, I played away from my body and got out twice in a similar way," he said.

"Then I went over to meet him in the nets and I remember him saying that when we play in Asia, we force the ball to play the drive. Here, we don't need to do that. And we need to play close to the body. So these are the things which he told me and whatever he learned from me, he can tell (laughs)."

NDTV
 
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Rizwan’s diaries

“Labushange said this to me”

“I went to Pujara for help”
 
Pakistan is extremely fortunate to have someone like Rizwan in the team who has a 'learners mindset'
 
Rare commodity

Very rare in Pakistan. Yet, people hate Rizwan and prefer unfit, unprofessional cricketers like Sharjeel or Sarfaraz over Rizwan

I am glad these people are not in any decision-making capacity at PCB *Pheww* Otherwise our XI would contain the likes of

Shahzad
Sharjeel
Umar Akmal
Kamran Akmal
Azam Khan
Sarfaraz
Mohamad Irfan
 
County Cricket will serve him well in terms of developing his long format batting.
 
Indian and Pakistani cricketers get along well usually. Thats not new.

But i tell you again, Rizwan is the most stable head in thst pakistan team.
 
He's the most down to earth player i've personally met from pakistan in the recent generation of cricketers. What an inspiration he was for my nine year old son when we met him a few days back in brighton post game. A true gem.
 
Love Riz but don't think you need anyone to tell you to avoid playing away from your body in English conditions !
 
Good to see retired cricketers like Pujara preparing for coaching careers
 
Good to see that Rizwan is willing to take on board what other cricketers have to say.
 
He's the most down to earth player i've personally met from pakistan in the recent generation of cricketers. What an inspiration he was for my nine year old son when we met him a few days back in brighton post game. A true gem.

The most down to earth cricketer in Pakistan us Fakhar Zaman.
 
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