"If we had 10 overs from Shaheen and Shadab, six overs from Haris and some from Iftikhar then things could have been different": Mohammad Rizwan

[Mesozoic]

Just saw the highlights.

Pakistan really wasted the warm up fixture by not trying out Shaheen and Shadab who have never bowled in Indian conditions. Also , no batting opportunity was given to middle/low order players (barring Saud Shakeel)...

It was more important for the likes of Ifti, Shadab, Nawaz etc to get some practice rather than in form guys like Rizwan.

 

[TheSultan]

Just saw the highlights.

Pakistan really wasted the warm up fixture by not trying out Shaheen and Shadab who have never bowled in Indian conditions. Also , no batting opportunity was given to middle/low order players (barring Saud Shakeel)...

It was more important for the likes of Ifti, Shadab, Nawaz etc to get some practice rather than in form guys like Rizwan.

This is the conundrum of being a Pakistan fan.

- The constant push that Babar and Rizwan are far and away the best players in the team. If you deny this - hater!
- If you say maybe they should change position in the batting order…”whaat… whos better? Hater!”
- they don’t need to play every single inconsequential / minnow, weakened side game. “Whaat we need to win EVERY match - hater”!
- if you say they should have done better - “whaaat they are carrying the team, everyone’s useless - hater!”
- if you say ok, they’re the best, but in a warmup give someone else a chance to bat so they get in to form and get some ‘confidence’. “Whaaat, you’re denying Babar and Riz the opportunity to get some confidence - hater”!!

I mean what you say to that.

What a cult

 

[Technics 1210]

Here's an idea, since the haters are never satisfied, why don't we just bring back convicted players to appease their blood pressure!

Sharjeel Khan, Umar Akmal, and Mohammed Amir sounds about right.

 

[Energy]

Yeah it's a stupid statement so maybe Rizwan doesn't need to face the cameras. But that doesn't take away anything from his batting and the fact that he matches and even exceeds Babar in both LOI formats recently.

Rizwan scoring runs consistently at 4 is a blessing for this team that's over reliant on Babar. For years we couldn't develop a middle order not because Babar was skipper, but because we played top domestic performers at those numbers and none of them was fit for Intl. cricket.

 

[zaidihusain]

Why does rizwan, an already established central contract player of category A need confidence boosting? How much confidence boosting will you give him? Like he can't be dropped, he's considered more important then even shadab our VC who was given contract B, he literally gets whatever he wants in the side and can bat anywhere he wishes, the whole media world considers him the next best thing, and he's developed a Cult following even stronger then misbah and babar's Cult following. I don't get what confidence boosting he needs.

You know who does need confidence boosting? Saud and Abdullah, players who are new to the circuit and should be given maximum opportunity for confidence boosting before the cup.

Absolutely correct. Indian conditions are well known, it's not like these players are asked to play at Mars. These are international players with vast experience, they have played all over the world since last 6-7 years. In warm up matches, out of form & less experienced players like Fakhar, Abdullah, Saud, Iftikhar, Salman should be promoted and given more opportunities to gain confidence. Iftikhar was unreasonably sent after Shadad and faced only 3 balls in this match. In the current set up only 2 players are enjoying luxury of playing at the position of their choice. All others are regularly promoted & demoted in every match.

 

[TheSultan]

And to add to the above, the one constant of so called “Indian conditions”, the crowd, wasn’t even available for this match!

So again I mean the excuses are just laughable

 

[MenInG]

And to add to the above, the one constant of so called “Indian conditions”, the crowd, wasn’t even available for this match!

So again I mean the excuses are just laughable

Did he mean pitch?

 

[TheSultan]

Did he mean pitch?

Yes - but not every pitch in India is going to be like this one. But one thing that will be alien to these Pakistani cricketers is the crowd. Big crowds and not necessarily cheering for them. So it might make sense to get used to that. But that wasn’t even available!

 

[MenInG]

Yes - but not every pitch in India is going to be like this one. But one thing that will be alien to these Pakistani cricketers is the crowd. Big crowds and not necessarily cheering for them. So it might make sense to get used to that. But that wasn’t even available!

I can tell you - Pakistan will either raise their game or crumble when confronted with that level of noise. Although the MCG game was similar with more Indian support.

 

[shariqnoor]

What are you expecting from a player? To come on media and say "We are a rubbish team. We played rubbish and our bowlers are pathetic?" All of it may be true and probably is but you cannot come on television and say all of that. Have you seen any other country's player dismissing their team right off the bat? Nobody does that nor should they.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Yes - but not every pitch in India is going to be like this one. But one thing that will be alien to these Pakistani cricketers is the crowd. Big crowds and not necessarily cheering for them. So it might make sense to get used to that. But that wasn’t even available!

The psychological factor versus India will definitely be amplified because of thr crowd.

But it could work both ways. An early wicket taken by our fast bowlers will result in the most silent of silences too.

 

[PakPremi]

So lets see if QDK will retire now that he has more than 50 to give all rounders batting practise.

 

[PakPremi]

Rizwan likes being on the pitch and show he is a warrior, oh wait looks like he is not the only one

 

[TheSultan]

Rizwan likes being on the pitch and show he is a warrior, oh wait looks like he is not the only one

It’s fine - top 6 have all had a knock. QDK is not holding anyone back. QDK actually has had “wickets falling around him”

 

[PakPremi]

It’s fine - top 6 have all had a knock. QDK is not holding anyone back. QDK actually has had “wickets falling around him”

Lol almost exact situation as Pakistan wickets had fallen and even Dale Steyn tweeted why he is batting even though he got injured too, but our so called fan do not have courage to call out QDK as they did with Rizwan, hence proving the hatred. Funny thing is QDK plays in India all the time and knows the conditions well but Rizwan trying to get a good inning behind him batting first time in India irked you.

 

[Justcrazy]

If and buts make no sense. You need to accept where you are wrong.

Australia missed Warne in 2003 , he was the main spinner , they did not make any excuse , they went on to win WC.

 

[salman24]

People are reading too much into a practice game. Wait for the actual games.

Practice games have no bearing on what will happen in the tournament. Go back and look at history.

 

[Sherazkhalid]

Because him and Babar are our main batters and we are heavily dependent on them. They should be given priority to get used to the conditions.

Then say as it is, on one hand, he is talking about experimenting, and on the other he and Baber played 178 balls out of 300 total.

 

[PakPremi]

Then say as it is, on one hand, he is talking about experimenting, and on the other he and Baber played 178 balls out of 300 total.

The experimenting was with bowlers, Agha bowled a lot, Shadab, Shaheen, Iftikhar did not bowl at all. Haris bowled 4. Anyway cannot understand why people are make fuss about the warm up game. The real issue as I keep stating us the poor bowling squad, they really need to improve a lot very quickly.

 

[TheSultan]

And even so - QDK should have retired maybe yes, but why do you need QDK’s behaviour to validate what Rizwan did?

I have a problem with all selfish players.

 

[MenInG]

Ok so we have had some overs from Shadab and not much happening.

 

[Dr_Bassim]

Eh?

Few overs from Shadab and Shaheen.

End result.

350.

Talk na Rizwan?

 

[Rana]

Eh?

Few overs from Shadab and Shaheen.

End result.

350.

Talk na Rizwan?

They were protecting Shaheen from late order phenti

Oh well Rauf got licked for 96

 

[Omer2002]

hahahahahahah

 

[Rana]

Why doesn’t Iftikhar bowl?

He will come to bat at number 8 again

 

[Rana]

This guy is making a habit of making grande statements that fail spectacularly

He is the leader of the delusional team mindset in the changing room

 

[Rana]

The same Rizwan who told us Khusdhil Shah is the best all rounder in Pakistan

 

[ask_analyse_act]

Not only is Rizwan insulting his own bowlers like Wasim jnr, Usama Mir, Hasan Ali but also he is being defiant and refusing to admit that the team needs to improve to show better results.

Does he even understand that NZ didn't bowl Trent Boult, Southee isn't there yet, they opened with Ravindra and used Glenn Phillips as an opening bowler. Daryll Mitchell was bowling the 47th over!

These are the kind of statements that convince me that this team will never do well. They just don't want to.

Agree with you , they have laid back badly ... Don't expect them to do any well ... As usual will start badly and might even lose to Netherlands today...

 

[Rana]

Mohammad Rizwan speaking in an interview with PCB:

"The idea behind warm-up matches is to look at where you need improvements and apply changes; If you look at this game versus New Zealand, we did do some experimentation and did things differently."

"We found some positives and also areas of improvements in this game."

"You have to play all 15 players, test your bench-strength and do some experiments."

"I agree that New Zealand chased 346 run-target but If we had 10 overs from Shaheen and Shadab, six overs from Haris and some from Iftikhar then things could have been different"

"We have a good bench, Hassan Ali's bowling also has been great, and when we talk about the bench, we had 3-4 players who got good runs."

"We have to improve in the fielding department where we have been doing well for a while; You have to understand that this was a warm-up game and we had changed fielding positions so players who had been fielding in certain positions for over a year were fielding elsewhere, so Shadab had been on point or covers but not in this game, so this had an effect and the fielding probably cost us this match too"

"We were worried about how things would be in India but had an idea that pitches are true for batting."

"As far as my innings is concerned, it does not matter if you score a hundred for your club, domestic team or Pakistan, you do feel very good about it, you feel satisfied, and this gives you confidence for your future games."

"We had no idea when Pakistan would play on Indian soil, then there is the added challenge of playing in a World Cup, we also had some other issues and difficulties as well in this regard."

"But to come to India, to perform well and play for your county, and to see your county's name being recognized does make you emotional and is a special feeling."

"Even the Indians we meet outside India give us a lot of love; We see the same love in Indian hearts for us that we experience in Pakistan supporters; Things maybe different in the outwards sense but things are not the same on the ground."

"If you see how we were greeted when we arrived and came out of the airport and heard the roar outside, we felt as if we had returned to Karachi or Lahore after winning the World Cup."

"I spoke to our players about it, and some said that they were getting goosebumps when they saw how they were being welcomed in India, which is something we will remember forever, and we hope that we will give even more love to the Indian team when they come to Pakistan."

We got plenty of overs from Shaheen, Rauf and Shadab Rizzi…

Where’s our World Cup buddy?