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[VIDEO] "I'm not happy at batting at number 5, because I want to bat at number 4": Mohammad Rizwan

To be fair, if this is the line-up then Riz coming at number four is worth experimenting.


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Got his wish and I think that's where he'll stay for quite a while in ODIs.
 
#4 is his best position. He bats very well with Babar, is good against the spinners but doesn't have the power or will to go hard from ball one.

Rizwan, Salman and Iftikhar should do well at 4, 5 and 6.
 
Rizwan at 4 opens up a dearth of options for Pakistan's ODI lineup. We can potentially even have a 4 man pace attack and 7 bowling options.
 
#4 is his best position. He bats very well with Babar, is good against the spinners but doesn't have the power or will to go hard from ball one.

Rizwan, Salman and Iftikhar should do well at 4, 5 and 6.

Yes it’s ‘his’ batting position apparently but not Pakistan’s. Don’t need a technically inept batsman in that position
 
To be fair, if this is the line-up then Riz coming at number four is worth experimenting.

I said it before, I will say it again. The only guy in our current team who can play a match winning blazing knock at 4 is Iftimania.

Riz will mostly give you 25 ball 30s, or 30 ball 40s with no potential to accelerate any higher.
 
Rizwan at 4 opens up a dearth of options for Pakistan's ODI lineup. We can potentially even have a 4 man pace attack and 7 bowling options.

Across formats, Rizwan is the best batsman after Babar.
It’s a no-brainer to give him the no4 slot on his batting agility alone, specially when the competition is Shan, Shafique and Haris injured sohail.
Ifti Mania is a MUST but he’s better to suited to 5/6 along with Agha.
 
Across formats, Rizwan is the best batsman after Babar.
It’s a no-brainer to give him the no4 slot on his batting agility alone, specially when the competition is Shan, Shafique and Haris injured sohail.
Ifti Mania is a MUST but he’s better to suited to 5/6 along with Agha.

Across formats???

He wasn’t picked in the hundred draft

He’s been dropped from the Test side. So what exactly makes you say he is the best batsman after Babar across formats????
 
Rizwan started crying like a big baby, then Babar put him back at 4.
 
2 failures on 4 so far.

Should have stayed quiet.
 
His struggles in ODI's have been there for a while now.

Just because in the last 3 years we've played the least amount of this format we hadn't really seen it as such.
 
We have wasted a whole series without finding an answer to our no. 4 position problem.

Because we tried the wrong personnel to begin. Rizwan isn't a 4. Neither is A Shafique.

Give a proper middle order batsman a chance. Just look how at ease Agha looks in comparison. He just breezes through with strike rotation and then attacking spin.

I'd have given full 5 games to K Ghulam or Tahir @4.
 
Babar Azam in his presser:

“Rizwan said it’s my wish to play at four but we will have to keep the team’s requirement in mind and that’s how we will communicate with the players. This is a team where no player says I want to play at this specific number,”

“Everyone is playing for Pakistan and Rizwan has performed at both batting positions. Every player is striving for the team’s win and Rizwan is one of the best players…he has won us many games,”
 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Babar Azam "in this team, no player can insist on batting at a certain position" <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Cricket?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Cricket</a> (courtesy PCB) <a href="https://t.co/POpaT7IQoi">pic.twitter.com/POpaT7IQoi</a></p>— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket) <a href="https://twitter.com/SajSadiqCricket/status/1655489718472065027?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 8, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
 
Babar Azam in his presser:

“Rizwan said it’s my wish to play at four but we will have to keep the team’s requirement in mind and that’s how we will communicate with the players. This is a team where no player says I want to play at this specific number,”

“Everyone is playing for Pakistan and Rizwan has performed at both batting positions. Every player is striving for the team’s win and Rizwan is one of the best players…he has won us many games,”

Actions speak louder than words Babs.

You gave in to Rizwan’s demands immediately
 
Actions speak louder than words Babs.

You gave in to Rizwan’s demands immediately

Yes it is plain to see, while Imam was booted for his misdemeanours, darling Rizwan was given an apology for this sacrilege and welcomed back to his "favourite" spot with a bouquet of red roses.
 
I think Babar can put as much spin on it as he likes, but the fact is that Rizwan said his wish to bat at 4 and that is exactly what happened.

Now what may have been more impressive is if Rizwan had been made to continue at 5 irrespective of his feelings about batting at the number 5 position.
 
[MENTION=93712]MenInG[/MENTION]

I’ve done 50% of it, will do the remainder by this evening and send to you
 
Yes it is plain to see, while Imam was booted for his misdemeanours, darling Rizwan was given an apology for this sacrilege and welcomed back to his "favourite" spot with a bouquet of red roses.

Imam's comments could easily be interpreted as hostile to Iftikhar while Rizwan's were solely regarding his own best position. Plenty of players have been honest and upfront about what their best role should be and it is not a controversial statement.

The reason Rizwan eventually got to bat at #4 again was because both Shan and Abdullah failed at that position in the preceding three matches.
 
In an ideal world, Haris Sohail would be at 4 and Rizwan at 5. Sadly, that guy can't get out of bed without getting injured, so it will most likely be Riz at 4.
 
Mickey Arthur speaking to Saj on Rizwan's statement:

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Saj: Mohammad Rizwan recently said that he would prefer to bat at number four in ODIs rather than number five. Firstly, is it right for a player to be making comments to the media about where he should be batting? And secondly, what do you think is his best position in ODIs?

Mickey Arthur: Yeah, that's a grey one for me. Depending on the balance of the team, depending on, on where we take the side in terms of their roles, we need to just explore that one just a little bit more in terms of finding the exact and best position for the team first and then Mohammed Rizwan second.

Because the 'Pakistan Way' is all about team first, so it's where best we think we can utilize him, and then giving him a clear role as to what we want from that position and then letting him go and play it.

Look, he's a wonderful player and he's matured. He's a player that's matured incredibly since I left Pakistan and he's world class now. So, we've just got to find how best Mohammed Rizwan's position fits the team.
 
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Mickey Arthur speaking to Saj on Rizwan's statement:

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Saj: Mohammad Rizwan recently said that he would prefer to bat at number four in ODIs rather than number five. Firstly, is it right for a player to be making comments to the media about where he should be batting? And secondly, what do you think is his best position in ODIs?

Mickey Arthur: Yeah, that's a grey one for me. Depending on the balance of the team, depending on, on where we take the side in terms of their roles, we need to just explore that one just a little bit more in terms of finding the exact and best position for the team first and then Mohammed Rizwan second.

Because the 'Pakistan Way' is all about team first, so it's where best we think we can utilize him, and then giving him a clear role as to what we want from that position and then letting him go and play it.

Look, he's a wonderful player and he's matured. He's a player that's matured incredibly since I left Pakistan and he's world class now. So, we've just got to find how best Mohammed Rizwan's position fits the team.

Where was Mickey’s ‘Pakistan way is the team first way’? When Rizwan and Babar opened whilst Fakhar batted at 3 during the NZ T20 series??
 
I don't think individuals will be allowed to pick and choose where they can bat with Mickey Arthur as Head Coach.

He won't take any nonsense from them.
 
Mohammad Rizwan in a media talk ahead of the Pakistan v India game in Colombo:

"Fakhar Zaman has recently been 'player of the month' as far as I can recall. It has been circulating that Fakhar Zaman isn't in form, but if you see the early part of his last few innings, the ball is coming on to his bat nicely, but he's been getting out in different ways. If he was getting out in the same pattern, then we could have concluded that there might be a [technical] fault"

"We are hoping that we don't need to change our opening combination, but even if there's any need, then it's up to the management. Personally, I am ready for any position"
 
Where was Mickey’s ‘Pakistan way is the team first way’? When Rizwan and Babar opened whilst Fakhar batted at 3 during the NZ T20 series??
Mickey’s probably been railroaded in to putting Rizwan at 4. He probably thinks it’s something not worth fighting about.
 
Mickey’s probably been railroaded in to putting Rizwan at 4. He probably thinks it’s something not worth fighting about.
If Mickey Arthur has decided to place Mohammad Rizwan at No. 4 in the batting order, it could be due to a range of considerations such as Rizwan's form, capabilities, and the team's tactical plans. Coaches have to make tough decisions, and sometimes they might prioritize other aspects of a player's game over conforming to conventional roles.
 
In this line up Rizwan is perfect no 4, if Saud was playing instead of Iftikhar then Saud should bat at 4 and Rizwan at 5.
 
He has been a revelation at 4. Will be key going into the world cup

Can see many big partnerships between him and Babar
 
Mohammad Rizwan average in ODIs by batting position:

Four - 42.26 (2 hundreds and 7 fifties)
Five - 33.42 (2 fifties)
Six - 30.81 (2 fifties)
Seven - 11.50
 
Mickey’s probably been railroaded in to putting Rizwan at 4. He probably thinks it’s something not worth fighting about.
Whatever makes you feel better bhai :ROFLMAO:

In all seriousness take a moment reflect on the depths you have sunk to.

It would be easier if you just admit it. You were wrong about Rizwan. He has proved you wrong.

Then we can finally talk about the game in a balanced way without these ridiculous consipracy theories which have no basis at all in any intelligent discussion.
 
Mohammad Rizwan average in ODIs by batting position:

Four - 42.26 (2 hundreds and 7 fifties)
Five - 33.42 (2 fifties)
Six - 30.81 (2 fifties)
Seven - 11.50
Riz really needs to score some match winning hundreds at no.4 to prove his metal. Those two hundreds were scored a million years ago in losing causes.

I would play a better batter at no.4
 
Not a number 4. Him and Babar together will cost Pakistan.
It’s almost as if people are blind.

Babar and Rizwan did a complete bottle job in the T20 WC last year with the bowlers and the much maligned middle order saving our blushes for the majority of the tornament.

Now their fans are once again chest beating over random bilateral performances. Watch the mega failure incoming during the World Cup
 
Mickey’s probably been railroaded in to putting Rizwan at 4. He probably thinks it’s something not worth fighting about.

This might be true. Micky probably doesn't have as much control over the team as he used to have in his first stint. Otherwise, I don't think he'd be playing someone like Rizwan at #4.
 
Rizwan needs to open with Saud at no 4. Rizwan is a world class Opener.
 
He isn't. He is 5 or a 6. He is a good solid player but let's not go over board.
I'm not going overboard. Idkw people trash talking players like imam or rizwan and prefer fakhar instead. Their many t20 openers and rizwan is no 2 for a reason.

The guy has played top quality innings against top quality bowlers like Bumrah. His only bad innings was the Sri lanka final where he bottled it.

If anything he's more suited to odi due to it being a longer format of the game and rizwan in t20 typically taking a few overs to get settled. The test series where he was replaced with sarfraz was a fluke lol, In the recent test series he comfortably scored a 50 and looked more set then sarfraz.

Rizwan is limited like imam is limited but limited doesn't mean a bad player, it just means you lack certain strokes and struggle in some cases like many ATG did, but the strokes they do, their good at. Imam ironed out his issues against the short ball and he's excellent at consistently playing the same backfoot single shot against spin and back foot against fast that let's him take singles. Rizwan is great at constantly jabbing and playing sweeps. He's just poor at running in between the wickets.

Virender sehwag, Brian lara, Steve Smith, these guys are limited as well but their great players overall.

Imam since 2021 opening : Avg 55, Strike rate 86 (Literally the best stat for any Opener since 2009)

Rizwan in t20 opening since being promoted: Avg 56, Strike rate 130. This is superior to any Opener that has played since t20 since rizwan's arrival.

It's just this forumn over analyses pak cricket team and nit picks only bad performances while overlooking good performances but for other teams it's the opposite where they only single put amazing performances but ignore all the bad performances.

Some of our players like azam Khan, sharjeel Khan, asif Ali ironically get the same treatment, where even in their prime, everyone will only select one or 2 great performances but will ignore everything else. I remember Sharjeel Khan, the guy couldn't even play bang Average spin. With the exception of Ireland bashing he was useless after 10 overs once spin came in.

Flashy strokes, Flashy techniques and shahid afridi style sixes doesn't mean you're a good player. End of the day it depends as to how many runs you pile up and how consistently you perform.
 
It’s almost as if people are blind.

Babar and Rizwan did a complete bottle job in the T20 WC last year with the bowlers and the much maligned middle order saving our blushes for the majority of the tornament.

Now their fans are once again chest beating over random bilateral performances. Watch the mega failure incoming during the World Cup
Let them learn the hard way

Not that they will learn
 
I'm not going overboard. Idkw people trash talking players like imam or rizwan and prefer fakhar instead. Their many t20 openers and rizwan is no 2 for a reason.

The guy has played top quality innings against top quality bowlers like Bumrah. His only bad innings was the Sri lanka final where he bottled it.

If anything he's more suited to odi due to it being a longer format of the game and rizwan in t20 typically taking a few overs to get settled. The test series where he was replaced with sarfraz was a fluke lol, In the recent test series he comfortably scored a 50 and looked more set then sarfraz.

Rizwan is limited like imam is limited but limited doesn't mean a bad player, it just means you lack certain strokes and struggle in some cases like many ATG did, but the strokes they do, their good at. Imam ironed out his issues against the short ball and he's excellent at consistently playing the same backfoot single shot against spin and back foot against fast that let's him take singles. Rizwan is great at constantly jabbing and playing sweeps. He's just poor at running in between the wickets.

Virender sehwag, Brian lara, Steve Smith, these guys are limited as well but their great players overall.

Imam since 2021 opening : Avg 55, Strike rate 86 (Literally the best stat for any Opener since 2009)

Rizwan in t20 opening since being promoted: Avg 56, Strike rate 130. This is superior to any Opener that has played since t20 since rizwan's arrival.

It's just this forumn over analyses pak cricket team and nit picks only bad performances while overlooking good performances but for other teams it's the opposite where they only single put amazing performances but ignore all the bad performances.

Some of our players like azam Khan, sharjeel Khan, asif Ali ironically get the same treatment, where even in their prime, everyone will only select one or 2 great performances but will ignore everything else. I remember Sharjeel Khan, the guy couldn't even play bang Average spin. With the exception of Ireland bashing he was useless after 10 overs once spin came in.

Flashy strokes, Flashy techniques and shahid afridi style sixes doesn't mean you're a good player. End of the day it depends as to how many runs you pile up and how consistently you perform.
Oh bhai sahb Lara was limited? Not in array of shots. He might have had some vulnerabilities but he was anything but limited. Smith and Sehwag have/had technical issues, but we’re not limited in array of shots either and they made up for the technical issues with unbelievable hand eye coordination.

There’s no point taking random, non contextualised examples to justify Rizwan.

And when you say rizwan dealt with bumrah - in a t20? How long was the spell? You missed my point about ODIs the bowlers having a full 5-6 over spell to work over all the technical deficiencies of batsmen of which Rizwan has many. And even in t20s - openers are not required to repel the opening attack, they are required to attack the opening attack! He can’t do that so he should not be opening in t20s either. Sharafat se if he wants to play, sit tight at no7 and if we need you earlier we’ll promote you for the odd game.

Abdullah is a seasoned opener and if anyone deserves the openers slot, it is him.
 
Oh bhai sahb Lara was limited? Not in array of shots. He might have had some vulnerabilities but he was anything but limited. Smith and Sehwag have/had technical issues, but we’re not limited in array of shots either and they made up for the technical issues with unbelievable hand eye coordination.

There’s no point taking random, non contextualised examples to justify Rizwan.

And when you say rizwan dealt with bumrah - in a t20? How long was the spell? You missed my point about ODIs the bowlers having a full 5-6 over spell to work over all the technical deficiencies of batsmen of which Rizwan has many. And even in t20s - openers are not required to repel the opening attack, they are required to attack the opening attack! He can’t do that so he should not be opening in t20s either. Sharafat se if he wants to play, sit tight at no7 and if we need you earlier we’ll promote you for the odd game.

Abdullah is a seasoned opener and if anyone deserves the openers slot, it is him.
If you want Abdullah to open that's fine as well. I do not mind, also rizwan smashed Bumrah lol, In t20 its harder to deal with a seasoned bowler since you need to attack, in odi, you can Block and wait for the bad ball.

You just proved my point about Smith, Lara and sehwag. They had technical limitations to play certain strokes, but they made up for it because the array of shots they had were plenty. Its the same with rizwan, he makes the sweep shot work, and his jabs do go for the boundary.

The avg of 56 and strike rate of 130 don't lie.

"Theirs no point in taking random contextualised examples to justify rizwan"

^^I don't do that, ironically most members of this forumn do that, they take certain instances to praise a player, but convientally do not mention when that player had a bad performance however for babar and rizwan they will critise them to death with statements such as oh those t20 100's were against 2nd string attacks, Babar is selfish, Rizwan bottled a chase in the Sri lanka Asia cup final.

For example Rana claims kamran akmal > rizwan because he won the 2009 t20 world cup final but fails to mention the dozens and dozens of times kamran failed in that tournament and outright lost games in his careers, where was kamran during the 260 chase against India in 2011?

It's the same with kholi, they'll praise kholi on end for his iconic performance against Australia in 2016 or his match winning performance against Pakistan getting 28 of 8, but they'll fail to mention the no of times virat bottled chases or scores, like scoring a terrible 50 of 40+ deliveries in a t20 against England in the semi final when Indian batters were set and it was a batting paradise pitch and England dominated India by making a mockery of that 170 score. Virat could have taken them to 190 to 200 plus but he didn't.

Not saying Babar and rizwan are > virat, but people ignore the insane no of times virat has bottled things but will critise Babar and rizwan for everything they do.

Smith has limitations, and no he can't play all types of strokes, he has limited strokes but makes it work like rizwan. That avg of 56 in opening in t20 on 58 innings now isn't a fluke lol. If you wanna try Abdullah sure, but it doesn't change the fact that rizwan is playing out of position and his spot in List A before his debut was no 3, or opening.
 
Oh bhai sahb Lara was limited? Not in array of shots. He might have had some vulnerabilities but he was anything but limited. Smith and Sehwag have/had technical issues, but we’re not limited in array of shots either and they made up for the technical issues with unbelievable hand eye coordination.

There’s no point taking random, non contextualised examples to justify Rizwan.

And when you say rizwan dealt with bumrah - in a t20? How long was the spell? You missed my point about ODIs the bowlers having a full 5-6 over spell to work over all the technical deficiencies of batsmen of which Rizwan has many. And even in t20s - openers are not required to repel the opening attack, they are required to attack the opening attack! He can’t do that so he should not be opening in t20s either. Sharafat se if he wants to play, sit tight at no7 and if we need you earlier we’ll promote you for the odd game.

Abdullah is a seasoned opener and if anyone deserves the openers slot, it is him.
How does rizwan repel the bowling attack when he helped chase 200 3x and make a 190+ to 200 score 2x by scoring his own 100 and 98?

How is he repelling?
 
I'm not going overboard. Idkw people trash talking players like imam or rizwan and prefer fakhar instead. Their many t20 openers and rizwan is no 2 for a reason.

The guy has played top quality innings against top quality bowlers like Bumrah. His only bad innings was the Sri lanka final where he bottled it.

If anything he's more suited to odi due to it being a longer format of the game and rizwan in t20 typically taking a few overs to get settled. The test series where he was replaced with sarfraz was a fluke lol, In the recent test series he comfortably scored a 50 and looked more set then sarfraz.

Rizwan is limited like imam is limited but limited doesn't mean a bad player, it just means you lack certain strokes and struggle in some cases like many ATG did, but the strokes they do, their good at. Imam ironed out his issues against the short ball and he's excellent at consistently playing the same backfoot single shot against spin and back foot against fast that let's him take singles. Rizwan is great at constantly jabbing and playing sweeps. He's just poor at running in between the wickets.

Virender sehwag, Brian lara, Steve Smith, these guys are limited as well but their great players overall.

Imam since 2021 opening : Avg 55, Strike rate 86 (Literally the best stat for any Opener since 2009)

Rizwan in t20 opening since being promoted: Avg 56, Strike rate 130. This is superior to any Opener that has played since t20 since rizwan's arrival.

It's just this forumn over analyses pak cricket team and nit picks only bad performances while overlooking good performances but for other teams it's the opposite where they only single put amazing performances but ignore all the bad performances.

Some of our players like azam Khan, sharjeel Khan, asif Ali ironically get the same treatment, where even in their prime, everyone will only select one or 2 great performances but will ignore everything else. I remember Sharjeel Khan, the guy couldn't even play bang Average spin. With the exception of Ireland bashing he was useless after 10 overs once spin came in.

Flashy strokes, Flashy techniques and shahid afridi style sixes doesn't mean you're a good player. End of the day it depends as to how many runs you pile up and how consistently you perform.
We will see if he's iron out his short ball problems when we go to Australia.
 
We will see if he's iron out his short ball problems when we go to Australia.
In Australia hardly any pakistani player performs lol. Babar azam was horrible in Australia in the last t20 world cup, saeed Anwar was a tail ender in Australian conditions. Inzi was terrible in SENA conditions as well.

Besides a very very Select few pakistani players, even our ATG have struggled on Australian pitches and been virtual Tail enders. So that's a bad example in general.
 
In Australia hardly any pakistani player performs lol. Babar azam was horrible in Australia in the last t20 world cup, saeed Anwar was a tail ender in Australian conditions. Inzi was terrible in SENA conditions as well.

Besides a very very Select few pakistani players, even our ATG have struggled on Australian pitches and been virtual Tail enders. So that's a bad example in general.
Sharjeel Khan was creaming the Aussie seamers in Australia

He wasn’t bouncing up and down like our national team was against Ngrava and Muzrabani
 
Sharjeel Khan was creaming the Aussie seamers in Australia

He wasn’t bouncing up and down like our national team was against Ngrava and Muzrabani
I agree with that, but that was ironically one of the only times he ever performed. 6 half centuries and 3 of them come from that tour. Otherwise besides that one game against Ireland, one half century in debut and 2 more, he averages 32 and was a dud against spin.

As I said, a Select few of our players have performed in Australia but even our ATG like saeed Anwar was extremely poor in Australia, that doesn't mean Sharjeel > Saeed as a batsmen.

Rizwan is a much much superior Opener then sharjeel. Again you're taking Small bits and pieces from a cricketers career to justify, the same tactic you did with kamran.

Overall Rizwan is a much superior batsmen to those 2, also please don't use the different era excuse. Opening batsmen averaged in the 40's with higher strike rates then kamran even in that era. One game or a few games doesn't mean much. Rizwan is genuinely more consistent. Avg of 56 and strike rate of 130 isn't a fluke despite a few bad innings here and their.

Only thing I will agree on is that rizwan is yet to perform in a proper icc eliminator stage such as world cup or t20 world cup, in any semi final or final he's played he's bottled it, that part I will agree on, but give it time.
 
It was amusing seeing Rizwan give batting instructions to Fakhar only to get out shortly after.
 
Number 4 closing the face - desperately looking for that leg side when the ball is seaming around off stump!

This is our no4!!
 
I think he's doing a decent job at number 4. The concern for Pakistan team is actually number 5. Agha Salman doesn't look good enough to be playing ODI cricket for Pakistan at number 5. We can either replace him with another batter or give Iftikhar a promotion to number 5.
 
Rizwan, the man who's keeping down team Pakistan and will not let us become a competitive team.

The only suitable position for him is to sit in his bedroom and watch international cricket on TV.

@Rana brother I'm so sick and tired of him being picked repeatedly. Why can't they get in Haris.
 
Pakistan has been cursed with WK batsmen that bat in positions not suited to them or not beneficial for the teams balance.

Sarfaraz was dropped because he didn’t add anything with the bat, he kept pushing himself down the order and made runs in a lost cause. If he stayed as an opening batsman, he wouldn’t have been dropped. He was a breath of fresh air, someone that was good at rotating strike in the PP.

Rizwan is the same, he’s not a number 4 batsman, and he’s not a lower middle order batsman either. He has to play as an opener or just drop him for Haris.

Also, the amount of times he’s lost us reviews or almost lost us reviews is shocking, most people are only noticing it now but he’s been doing that for a while.
 
Pakistan has been cursed with WK batsmen that bat in positions not suited to them or not beneficial for the teams balance.

Sarfaraz was dropped because he didn’t add anything with the bat, he kept pushing himself down the order and made runs in a lost cause. If he stayed as an opening batsman, he wouldn’t have been dropped. He was a breath of fresh air, someone that was good at rotating strike in the PP.

Rizwan is the same, he’s not a number 4 batsman, and he’s not a lower middle order batsman either. He has to play as an opener or just drop him for Haris.

Also, the amount of times he’s lost us reviews or almost lost us reviews is shocking, most people are only noticing it now but he’s been doing that for a while.
I’d rather open with Harris than Rizwan
 
Rizwan, the man who's keeping down team Pakistan and will not let us become a competitive team.

The only suitable position for him is to sit in his bedroom and watch international cricket on TV.

@Rana brother I'm so sick and tired of him being picked repeatedly. Why can't they get in Haris.
What can we do bro? He’s the captain’s best mate. The team is built to make him look important. It’s too late now, this nonsense has been going on for 4 years
 
I won’t comment on his performance yet but he really needs to fix his attitude . If this is way you play cricket smiling hugging on field vs your opponents then I’m sorry you will never be a champion .
 
I won’t comment on his performance yet but he really needs to fix his attitude . If this is way you play cricket smiling hugging on field vs your opponents then I’m sorry you will never be a champion .
This. His attitude/acting is pathetic. To have such players in the dressing room is bad.
 
I won’t comment on his performance yet but he really needs to fix his attitude . If this is way you play cricket smiling hugging on field vs your opponents then I’m sorry you will never be a champion .
He looks to hug Kohli, because all the cameras are on Kohli. This guy only chases clout
 
Tired of watching this guy bat, how can you get caught behind by being squared up on a regulation delivery at 125 kph. Dude has no technique, ugly looking shots, flails at every straightforward ball when keeping
 
Number 4 spot should go to Saud Shakeel, Rizwan 5, Iftikhar 6 --- Salman shouldn't be in the team .
 
The problem with us is that we throw Rizwan or some other random wannabe allrounder at the problem.

Why can’t we just let batsmen bat. Openers opening, middle order batsmen being proper middle order batsmen. This rizwan nonsense has gone far enough.

Pick some batsmen, give them some rope and let them grow in to their roles. But we can’t do that because we have to stick Rizwan in to roles that there are no shortages of.

There are plenty of t20 openers in the PSL, but we have to slot rizwan in.

There are ODI middle order batsmen waiting in the wings but we can’t play them cos Rizwan has to slot in to the middle.

How can we have only THREE specialist batsmen? The rest are all bits n pieces cricketers.

And even out of the 3 Fakhar is woefully out of form.

Play Saud, play tayyab, open with Abdullah, Haris etc. Why are these guys just warming the bench?
 
Whatever makes you feel better bhai :ROFLMAO:

In all seriousness take a moment reflect on the depths you have sunk to.

It would be easier if you just admit it. You were wrong about Rizwan. He has proved you wrong.

Then we can finally talk about the game in a balanced way without these ridiculous consipracy theories which have no basis at all in any intelligent discussion.
What exactly was he wrong about?
 
Was reminded of these comments post-India game. From my end, I've never once claimed Rizwan to be an S-tier level batsman nor do I go down the road of saying his batting is on Chris Martin-level. For what he brings to the table as a batsman, which is to pinch those quick singles and twos and occasional boundary off a bad ball, he is fine as a #5 imo. He doesn't have a proper all-round shot range and his technique is too clunky to be batting higher than #5. Honestly, the primary reason I would put him in the XI is because of his elite wicket-keeping. At worst I can count on Rizwan to, 9 times out of 10, not pull off Kamran Akmal wicketkeeping behaviour vs NZ in WC 2011 off Shoaib's bowling during WC 2023 :kakmal.
 
In ODI cricket, batsman at number 4 needs to have two qualities; one has to be technically correct and second should be dynamic with regards to the game situation.

I am afraid, Rizwan has neither of those qualities. And taking his stats into consideration,he should bat at 6/7.
 
We dont care if you are happy or not Rizwan. Let go of the crucial number 4 spot.
 
Saud should be batting at 4. Unlike Rizwan he is a proper batsman.

100% agree.

Saud is a better batsman than Rizwan and should be given a proper run at #4. They can push Rizwan down the order.
 
I want to see three changes in the team for next match.
Usama mir or Nawaz for shadab.
Abdullah for fakhar
saud for salman ali
 
Knew it was a stupid statement the minute he said it.

Rizwan's entire career was and will always be based on one thing: a hatred for Sarfraz Ahmed.

He was bought into the test team when Sarfraz was seeing a small loss of form, a patch where most teams would have backed their guns players, however Misbah the opportunist used it as a means to get rid of him and bring in his favourite. Same case in T20s where he was shoved as opener, destroyed our entire batting order and our number one rank just to ensure the end of Sarfraz.

Karma is hitting him hard though and it's bitter harvest will be fun to see
 
Knew it was a stupid statement the minute he said it.

Rizwan's entire career was and will always be based on one thing: a hatred for Sarfraz Ahmed.

He was bought into the test team when Sarfraz was seeing a small loss of form, a patch where most teams would have backed their guns players, however Misbah the opportunist used it as a means to get rid of him and bring in his favourite. Same case in T20s where he was shoved as opener, destroyed our entire batting order and our number one rank just to ensure the end of Sarfraz.

Karma is hitting him hard though and it's bitter harvest will be fun to see
In T20Is, Rizwan is up there at the top if we compare him with Sarfraz(no chance for him to be in the team when Rizwan is there). In Odi Rizwan still has a long way to go and prove that he is a reliable number 4 batsman which he hasn't done effectively. Hoping to see something good happening in the near future as we have a World Cup coming.
 
In T20Is, Rizwan is up there at the top if we compare him with Sarfraz(no chance for him to be in the team when Rizwan is there). In Odi Rizwan still has a long way to go and prove that he is a reliable number 4 batsman which he hasn't done effectively. Hoping to see something good happening in the near future as we have a World Cup coming.
Nothing good will happen. His performances are their for everyone to see and considering those are agaisnt minnows and B teams it will be a humiliation of the highest order.

Also averaging 50 at a strike rate of 130 is nothing to boast about.

Sarfraz knew that and placed himself impeccably down the order to make the difference in clutch moments. Plus his leadership skills was enough on it's own to merit his selection
 
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