OPINION
Follow UsHow has Mohammad Rizwan slipped under the radar this year? He has been the most successful middle-order batter (4-7) in One-Day Internationals (ODI) in 2023 with 696 runs. He has achieved that with an average of 63.27 and strike-rate of almost 93. In the three years before this, Rizwan had scored just 360 runs at 24.
His form comes at just the perfect time after a few lukewarm years.
Against the Netherlands, Rizwan walked in when skipper Babar Azam walked off for five and had to stand silently at the other end as Imam-ul-Haq, too had to head back, managing just 15. The early goings suggested that the Dutch had done their homework. They operated with the off-spin options of Aryan Dutt and Colin Ackermann against Babar, and against Iman, Paul van Meekeren wasted little time in unleashing a well-dug-in short delivery with the southpaw hitting it straight to the fine-leg fielder.
With Pakistan at 43 for 3 in the first 10 overs, it was an uphill task for them. The Men in Green desperately needed some sort of momentum. While the Netherlands had won the first 10 overs, after electing to bowl, the question was if they can remain in the game for longer periods of time.
In walked Saud Shakeel, who before today had scored only 76 runs at 19 from five innings. Rizwan, without a doubt, had to take the responsibility to bat deep and take Pakistan to a competitive total. Shakeel and Rizwan had shown that they could bat well together in the warm-up game against New Zealand, where the duo put up 78 off just 66, but it was after an excellent platform was set.
The situation in Hyderabad was different. They had to build a similar counter-attacking stand, but had they lost another wicket while doing so, it could have proved to be fatal.
It was then perhaps the Netherlands who took the foot off the gas. While Shakeel continued to strike at will over 100 throughout his innings, Rizwan, while playing second fiddle, ensured he was not allowing his partner to do all the heavy lifting by keeping the scoreboard ticking.
What the wicketkeeper-batter has done extremely well this year, especially, is that he has not shown any visible weakness against spin. He has been dismissed just thrice against them this year, maintaining an average of 123.33 and striking at 90.9. With the World Cup in India, it is imperative that you up your game against the spinners, and Rizwan, who comes into the tournament at the back of some decent outings, has further proved to show the way. But it was not always hunky-dory.
Another key aspect where Rizwan has improved drastically is that he has opened up his off-side play. While that was not on display much today, in general, in ODIs this year, he has been able to hit many more boundaries on the off-side than he had done in the last couple of years.
A chink in his armour, perhaps, is against deliveries coming into him, as he showed today with Bas de Leede eventually cleaning him up. Against such deliveries, he has struck at just 65.7 and almost 60% of such deliveries have been dots.
In 16 innings this year, Rizwan has come in to bat within the 20th over 11 times. Out of those 11, he has been dismissed for a single-digit score just once. In four innings, he has scored in the range of 21-49 and hit five fifties – a further indication that more often than not, he makes a useful contribution while walking in to bat at a tricky situation.
Both Shakeel and Rizwan scored 68, but the former did so at a strike-rate of 130.77, compared to the latter’s 90.67. The duo put on 120 to steady the ship and set an excellent platform and, in the end, proved to be a match-winning one.
While the attention of the world might be on Babar or even Shaheen Afridi, in the World Cup, we could very well see Rizwan quietly do the job for Pakistan without much fuss. Not that Pakistan would complain.
