What's new

What are your expectations from Mohammad Rizwan in the upcoming England series?

Salman4.

Tape Ball Star
Joined
Jun 4, 2018
Runs
714
Rizwan really got into the team on merit and played excellently against Australia and now awaits the bigger test.
He has begun the tour on a good note by scoring unbeaten half-centuries in his first two innings. I think we should not pressurize him too much atm. He should be given a long rope (considering how Sarfraz played as a specialist captain after countless failures). If he scores at an average of, say around 40 with a couple of 50s, that'd be fine. Really want Rizwan to be given chances before he is dropped as he doesn't have the PR game of Sarfraz and you'll never see journos bringing up what Rizwan has done over the past few years with his domestic and A teams. His glove-work is definitely an upgrade and also he is less annoying behind the stumps, but once he is dropped, we are not going to see people posting his stats and wanting him back like Sarfraz when he was dropped.
 
I don't think there was a huge clamour to get Sarfraz back in the side apart from one or two die hard fans.

As far as Rizwan is concerned, I agree, we should let him get on with it and I think he'll be fine though not rated by many.

But that's the problem with this team, its full of weak players apart from Babar and Shaheen.
 
i really hope he does well he is definitely better than other batsmen and much much better than that pathetic batsman sarfraz useless Ahmed.
 
Kamran, Sarfaraz and keepers before have set pretty low standards in SENA so I think he is more than capable to be better than them. Was the best keeper ever in Aus as well with highest ever score ever by a Pakistani keeper batsman. Also the only keeper to score two centuries in a single ODI series and that too against Aus.

Domestic stats also show he is the best keeper/batsman we have ever produced and should play for Pakistan for years to come in Tests and ODIs and eventually Rohail or someone else can take over.
 
My expectation is for Rizwan to take the chances coming his way.

Not easy keeping in England given how much the Dukes ball moves.
 
He has a key role to play.

I don't expect too much from our top order if I'm being honest. Maybe a decent innings or two from Babar, other than that, no much.

Therefore Rizwan, at number 7 will need to scrape a few scores together and try to squeeze out a few runs from the tail.

His batting could be the difference between 200 all out and 275 all out.
 
Last edited:
Rizwan really got into the team on merit and played excellently against Australia and now awaits the bigger test.
He has begun the tour on a good note by scoring unbeaten half-centuries in his first two innings. I think we should not pressurize him too much atm. He should be given a long rope (considering how Sarfraz played as a specialist captain after countless failures). If he scores at an average of, say around 40 with a couple of 50s, that'd be fine. Really want Rizwan to be given chances before he is dropped as he doesn't have the PR game of Sarfraz and you'll never see journos bringing up what Rizwan has done over the past few years with his domestic and A teams. His glove-work is definitely an upgrade and also he is less annoying behind the stumps, but once he is dropped, we are not going to see people posting his stats and wanting him back like Sarfraz when he was dropped.

In terms of glove man between the 2 they about the same but I always say rizwan is much better in terms of technique and building an ininings
 
I don't think there was a huge clamour to get Sarfraz back in the side apart from one or two die hard fans.

As far as Rizwan is concerned, I agree, we should let him get on with it and I think he'll be fine though not rated by many.

But that's the problem with this team, its full of weak players apart from Babar and Shaheen.

In tests rizwan is much better
 
I have a sneaky suspicion that Rizwan will be Pak's second leading run scorer (Babar being first) for the series.
 
In tests rizwan is much better

So far showing good promise but its early doors. Sarfraz for all his faults has had a long Test career and was pretty much an integral part of the Misbah led Test team.

He was a stalwart of the UAE success under that team. We should not forget his contributions.
 
I would he performs with the gloves more so than anything. Him with a bat would be a bonus. But he showed on the Australia tour that he's more than capable to cover all the bases.
 
Rizwan had a golden period in ODIs where he scored 2 hundreds against Australia. This was unthinkable for a Pakistan wicketkeeper (and that too a second choice keeper).
He got his due reward for being dropped after that super form that he was carrying.

Lets see if he can get back in that zone again. He has the ability, just depends on team environment and politics and how much he feels welcomed in the team.
 
He should look to perform as well as Dowrich is doing for Windies.
Certainly he has ability to do it
 
I hope this is a breakout series for him and he does really well. He has the potential to be the best keeper bat in our history.
 
So far showing good promise but its early doors. Sarfraz for all his faults has had a long Test career and was pretty much an integral part of the Misbah led Test team.

He was a stalwart of the UAE success under that team. We should not forget his contributions.

Agreed I'd stil pick sarfraz in t20s but in odis and tests has to be rizwan
 
For long time we had very mediocre keepers with poor physical fitness and with their ugly style of keeping, good to see one genuine and physically fit keeper in Rizwan who is a useful batsman also.
 
I'll be happy if he can maintain his average (of around 32) and holds on to the catches that comes. May be 3 Tests, 170 runs at 34 with one NO and couple of 50+ scores and 12 dismissals (10+2) is per for him. Anything better than that is a grand success.
 
You think he is better than De Kock?

Forget de Kock, he's atleast two tiers above Rizwan as an all format player. There are atleast half a dozen others who're comfortably better.

Butler, Latham, Mushfiq, Watling, Bairstow and not to forget KL. :)

Rizwan is at best in the league of Paine, Dowrich, Carey, Pant etc.
 
Forget de Kock, he's atleast two tiers above Rizwan as an all format player. There are atleast half a dozen others who're comfortably better.

Butler, Latham, Mushfiq, Watling, Bairstow and not to forget KL. :)

Rizwan is at best in the league of Paine, Dowrich, Carey, Pant etc.

W Saha averages over 30 with 3 hundreds and he is miles better as a WK; but Rizwan is definitely a better bat than Saha, not sure about overall package though. Dorwich is quite under rated actually - keeps well and some how scores crucial runs often.
 
He just needs to become the toughest wicket to take - and he would have done his job - how many runs he scores is also important but he needs to stay there until end of innings.
 
You think he is better than De Kock?
Yes, very much so.

De Kock can’t help himself outside off-stump and he’s not a great keeper. He’s a brilliant white ball player but I’ve almost given up on him with the red ball. He’s similar in his strengths and weaknesses to Pant.

Watling was the real deal, but his batting is in decline now that he’s 35 years old, and in Australia last year Rizwan was vastly superior to Watling. Similarly Paine is a great keeper but a shadow of his former self with the bat.
 
I'll be happy if he can maintain his average (of around 32) and holds on to the catches that comes. May be 3 Tests, 170 runs at 34 with one NO and couple of 50+ scores and 12 dismissals (10+2) is per for him. Anything better than that is a grand success.

Yes, can't ask for much more than that from your number 7 batsman/wk.
 
Yes, can't ask for much more than that from your number 7 batsman/wk.

The (positive) irony is that Rizwan is good enough to play as a specialist batsmen in this team. In the post-Azhar years I can see Rizwan batting at 5 with Rohail Nazir keeping at 6.

I think the keeping role almost gives Rizwan a free run batting wise in the team. Once he's had enough tests as a keeper and got comfortable with the bat, you can swap one of the older middle order bats with another younger keeper, (e.g. Rohail currently). In that vein it's good to have Rohail Nazir in and around the team in England now.
 
Forget de Kock, he's atleast two tiers above Rizwan as an all format player. There are atleast half a dozen others who're comfortably better.

Butler, Latham, Mushfiq, Watling, Bairstow and not to forget KL. :)

Rizwan is at best in the league of Paine, Dowrich, Carey, Pant etc.

Buttler isnt that good in tests hes over rated
 
And still he has the same Test avg as Rizwan. And when you talk about LOIs , the comparison becomes laughworthy.

Buttler has played 42 tests and averages 31 in tests. I don’t remember a single overseas innings by him in tests. Had highest score of 29 in 7 innings he played in SA.

On the other hand Rizwan has only played 6 tests and already scored a 95 in his first Aus tour against a top attack. Not sure how Rizwan develops but everybody can see his red ball technique and overall game at the moment has much more potential than Buttler’s red ball game.

I am not sure LOIs were under discussion but, comparing any lower middle order/ middle order keeper to buttler from any era in LOI except maybe Dhoni would be laugh worthy.
 
How many Test hundreds has Rizwan scored ? Forget hundreds, how many fifties has he scored ?

Now He is better than Azhar, Asad, Shan and may be Abid as well.
Azhar was decent 4 years ago.
Asad average is less than 40 after 50+ tests and he is also playing as specialist Batsman.
 
Now He is better than Azhar, Asad, Shan and may be Abid as well.
Azhar was decent 4 years ago.
Asad average is less than 40 after 50+ tests and he is also playing as specialist Batsman.

Shan has scored more hundreds in the last two Tests than Rizwan has his entire Test career. Abid has scored two centuries in only three Tests.

Though yes Azhar is a tailender by this point and Asad is good for one innings per series only.

However that's no reason to start overrating Rizwan.
 
Buttler has played 42 tests and averages 31 in tests. I don’t remember a single overseas innings by him in tests. Had highest score of 29 in 7 innings he played in SA.

On the other hand Rizwan has only played 6 tests and already scored a 95 in his first Aus tour against a top attack. Not sure how Rizwan develops but everybody can see his red ball technique and overall game at the moment has much more potential than Buttler’s red ball game.

I am not sure LOIs were under discussion but, comparing any lower middle order/ middle order keeper to buttler from any era in LOI except maybe Dhoni would be laugh worthy.

Butler got an even better start to his Test career in that 2018 summer against India and Pakistan in tough batting conditions. But he hasn't been able to replicate that over the last one and a half year. Point is, except the 95 in Australia (where even Yasir Shah was scoring hundreds) Rizwan has nothing to show that he's significantly better than Butler in tests. And we're not even talking about their primary skills i.e wicket-keeping.

6 Tests is too less a number.
 
34 not out at the moment.

Good numbers in this match which is promising.
 
Butler got an even better start to his Test career in that 2018 summer against India and Pakistan in tough batting conditions. But he hasn't been able to replicate that over the last one and a half year. Point is, except the 95 in Australia (where even Yasir Shah was scoring hundreds) Rizwan has nothing to show that he's significantly better than Butler in tests. And we're not even talking about their primary skills i.e wicket-keeping.

6 Tests is too less a number.

Buttler got a start in home conditions and Rizwan is yet to play handful of innings in Pakistan. Buttler's start was okish and was in 2014 actually at home and then he was dropped for whole 2017 and then again came back in 2018 home summer which was probably the best time of his test career. However, post that again his career is going nowhere. Yet to see a decent innings from him in overseas conditions as I mentioned of Rizwan of 95 in Aus and even at home Buttler isnt consistent enough.

Agreed that 6 tests are too low to come to any conclusion. Will have to see how Rizwan goes on from here, I was just talking about how he has looked till now.
 
Last edited:
He is overrated. He did well in Australia because his strength is horizontal bat shots. Otherwise, he has a dodgy technique and will struggle against the moving ball in England.
 
Half-century in both innings.

Can't ask for much more than that.
 
An average of 35 and no mistakes behind the stumps would be a good series for him.
 
In terms of glove man between the 2 they about the same but I always say rizwan is much better in terms of technique and building an ininings

What?
Sarfraz and Rizwan are equally skilled as WKs?
Come on man, Rizwan has better reflexes and fitness, agility and athleticism too.
 
He is overrated. He did well in Australia because his strength is horizontal bat shots. Otherwise, he has a dodgy technique and will struggle against the moving ball in England.

Yes. Sarfraz's crouching is the perfect technique.
As long as Rizwan is scoring runs and doing good as a WK, I have no problems with his 'dodgy technique'
 
He is overrated. He did well in Australia because his strength is horizontal bat shots. Otherwise, he has a dodgy technique and will struggle against the moving ball in England.

He is very good for Tests and ODIs.
T20s are not his thing.
 
What?
Sarfraz and Rizwan are equally skilled as WKs?
Come on man, Rizwan has better reflexes and fitness, agility and athleticism too.

Yes they 100 percent according to me others will say different.obvs this was before he got unfit
 
Yes. Sarfraz's crouching is the perfect technique.
As long as Rizwan is scoring runs and doing good as a WK, I have no problems with his 'dodgy technique'

Rizwan has better technique that sarfraz for sure espically in tests
 
After watching his performances in Australia, I expect him to do reasonably well to be honest. As long as he doesn't drop any catches, I'm fine.
 
Century in the warm-up match.

Let's hope he can carry this form into the Test series.
 
I hate how Sarfraz behaved in South Africa, but there are some pretty unfair comments here.

Sarfraz was a very fine Test wicketkeeper-batsman

His downfall was that he wasn’t disciplined enough as a batsman to leave balls outside off-stump. So outside Asia he was a bit too easy to dismiss.

Rizwan is an inferior keeper, just as Gilchrist was inferior to Healy. But he is a superior batsman and can genuinely play in the Top Six.

It is time for a generational change - Rohail should have remained in the squad with Sarfraz going home. Nobody benefits from having a 33 year old reserve.
 
I hate how Sarfraz behaved in South Africa, but there are some pretty unfair comments here.

Sarfraz was a very fine Test wicketkeeper-batsman

His downfall was that he wasn’t disciplined enough as a batsman to leave balls outside off-stump. So outside Asia he was a bit too easy to dismiss.

Rizwan is an inferior keeper, just as Gilchrist was inferior to Healy. But he is a superior batsman and can genuinely play in the Top Six.

It is time for a generational change - Rohail should have remained in the squad with Sarfraz going home. Nobody benefits from having a 33 year old reserve.

It's a tough tour if rizwan gets Injuried how will rohail do as keeper.
 
Yh like most have said an avge of 35 with a couple of good 50s and no glaring errors behind the stumps will be a good series for him
 
Rizwan coming in at 150/4, big pressure on him now to put on a partnership with Shan. Needs to show his mettle.
 
Well here he is, doesn’t look too convincing I’m afraid
 
He might get a few runs here and there, but Anderson and co are exposing plenty of flaws in his technique.
 
Has always looked ungainly at the crease. We really need him to chip in at 6 given we've got a long tail.
 
Doesn’t look too good but that doesn’t matter as long as he scores. He just needs to survive this session for now.
 
Oh no Rizwan is not the second coming of Bradman anymore! Oh no PP'ers.

Swing from one innings to the next is how we roll.
 
Rizwan took a excellent catch off Yasir Shah's bowling to dismiss Joe Root.
 
Back
Top