[VIDEO] "I have been hearing that I am a player who is unable to hit sixes" : Mohammad Rizwan

[MenInG]

Mohammad Rizwan speaking after the game:

"They say each match you play has its own imporantance and this is what I also believe in; Whether it's Test cricket, ODI or T20I cricket I try and deliver with whatever skills I have"

"There was some pressure on us at the start of the innings because of the run out of our captain and a top-ranked player; What this meant was that we had to consider a few things; We took time to read the pitch and we read it well and we reached a good total with some good planning"

"I have been hearing that I am a player who is unable to hit sixes but its my belief that the Almighty is always helping me; I am planning and putting in the effort, and doing my best to bring improvements in my shots, the rest is the blessings of the Almighty"

"Winning the first game of the series is always good as it build up the momentum"

"When you aim for something and work towards your goal with sincerity, then the Almighty also helps you"

"It's obviously an honour for me but what really pleases me is that I am the first wicket-keeper batsman for Pakistan who has a century in each format; This is a matter of great honour for me that I have achieved this feat as a Pakistani"

"If I hadnt read the pitch right and given the way the ball was gripping on that surface, I could have easily given my wicket away and this result may well not have happened"

"We have always been told by our legends that one must always first read the pitch and then play according to the demands of that pitch"

"Because of the loss of Babar's wicket, I had to slow down my strike rate as I didnt want to give my wicket away earlier on, but it picked up later on"

"The only target that was in my mind was to score runs for Pakistan, I hadn't given any thought to scoring my hundred; If you look towards the end, I was dropped by a fielder when I was on 96 and then on 98 as well; Never did I think that I should take the easy route and score 2 to get to my hundred from that point; The only thing I was thinking about was that the target we were setting for South Africa looked low and there was a need to play sixes and fours at that time; What good would have been a hundred if the target that Nawaz and I had planned for the side could not be achieved? But now I am enjoying scoring that hundred, only because we won that game; That is all that was in my head and I wouldn't have cared if I had been out on 98 whilst I was trying to get those runs for the side"

"Our spinners showed today why we have strength in this department but our fast bowlers like Haris and Shaheen showed their skills as well; So conditions are tough for both sides but we will try our best to make use of this momentum"

==

Rizwan speaking to Ramiz Raja in the post-match ceremony

[Bilal_103]

Looks like rizwan has been reading pakpassion lool

[Kroll]

That's why they brought the ropes in.

[Smbhayi]

I thought he wasn't a T20 player @Rana

[Saj]

Looks like rizwan has been reading pakpassion lool

I think it's rather a dig at Karachi Kings team management who felt he was not a T20 player.

[MHN1293]

Now has almost an equal 6 per match ratio to "POweR HitTEr" fakhar zaman.

[Rana]

I thought he wasn't a T20 player @Rana

Yeah he still isn’t

But well batted today tbf

[Maliq_Mudasir]

That's why they brought the ropes in.

All the sixes he hit were more than 80m.

[Kroll]

All the sixes he hit were more than 80m.

I know, its just that someone was complaining on the match threads the ropes had been brought in to 55m and how it was a disgrace.

[Titan24]

Was listening to his interview in National T20 Cup 2020 and he said he was working on his power game and since than he has scored a 90 odd in NZ and a 100 now.

Contrary to popular belief skills are not a constant thing and players who have the right attitude can develop their game and grow. Most players start with a lot of shortcomings at a younger age and then grow over time. That is why I have always said that it takes time to develop players, you need to select the right ones and then allow them time to grow.

Still I think he needs to work on his intent at the start. He takes bit of time to set his eye but, when you are playing in the powerplay and alongside Babar who is not a basher, you need but more intent to utilize the field restrictions. So this is something he should work further upon.

[Amjid Javed]

Nice sound of the ball coming off his bat, brilliant 100.

[HappyWarsFan]

I love how Rizwan talks. He's not timid or PR.

[Mirpur express]

Those were big hits too all over 80m 💪🏽
Happy for Rizwan as he is now our 2nd most important player in all formats

[Khan12]

Yeah he still isn’t

But well batted today tbf

But but zeeshan ashraf should replace him. Ah not good enough for psl and chadwick walton is better loool.

[Minnowbasher]

Gotta love his determination and grit. Amazing knock today. Having said that though he doesn't look natural when he's trying to hit big and can often lose his shape. I fear top teams would work him out. He also doesn't seem like a very good player of spin in t20s and since the next wt20 is in India there may be problems there.
I just fear these last 2 innings from Rizwan could end up being a bad thing as now him and Babar are confirmed openers which risks us having a low run rate in powerplay overs and false shots from Babar leading to him underperforming.
Insha Allah I'm proved wrong but I still think opening with Rizwan isn't a good idea. Perhaps play him at 3 instead or get Babar to bat at 3 again.

[MenInG]

More quotes added to OP

[KingOfPakBreakfast]

He still has a low low initial s/r which invariably puts pressure on his partner.
However kudos to him for putting the smash on the Saffers.

Regarding the question of opening with him and Babar, it's ok as long as everybody else who follows them can GO from ball one. That's how you make it work. Thus two more to add to Haider and Hafeez. Maybe Talat and Azam can be those two lads. It doesn't look like it's Khushdil on current form. It most certainly doesn't seem to be Ifti.

[UzmanBeast]

If Haider was watching this innings, he'd realize that he doesn't have to hit a flashy 20 and get out.

That wicket was good for batting, and if Haider got his eye in, there's no saying that he wouldn't also have gotten a hundred.

Just goes to show what the right approach on a pitch can do, and how important it is to give yourself time to assess the conditions before mindlessly slogging at the ball.

One thing we need to solve is the SR of Babar + Rizwan in the powerplay. One needs to start taking charge and hitting balls around, otherwise the only solution is to slip one of them down to 3 and let Haider open. Rizwan looks in good nick, so it will be interesting to see how he approaches opening in the second second game.

[Saj]

He's good for Pakistan cricket and he's exactly the type of cricketer and personality that Pakistan needs more of.

He's confident, cheeky, has self-belief, is a hard-working professional and doesn't get involved in petty politics which have plagued Pakistan teams over the years.

Great attitude, great cricketer.

[gazza619]

He's good for Pakistan cricket and he's exactly the type of cricketer and personality that Pakistan needs more of.

He's confident, cheeky, has self-belief, is a hard-working professional and doesn't get involved in petty politics which have plagued Pakistan teams over the years.

Great attitude, great cricketer.

He is starting to remind me of Javed Miandad and that is the highest of the highest compliment i can give.

[shamaan]

I stil dont think he should open but hes shown today he is improving and working on his power hitting.

[Finisher]

Getting 30 of 30 wont be good enough against the top teams

[Snowflake]

Getting 30 of 30 wont be good enough against the top teams

Would be suicidal if he then gets out. Happened in NZ. This is the only reason why I'm not 100% convinced that he belongs in this format.

[KingOfPakBreakfast]

Har baat ka jawaab "the almighty is helping me. I leave everything to the almighty"

Dude, all Muslims hold that faith. Can you just keep it to cricket? Your insights as a batsman are what people are interested to hear, not how strong your faith is.

Maybe his faith is what informs his cricketing performance prominently? A lot of performance relates to ones mindset, and he clearly constructs that around his faith. Nothing wrong in referring to that aspect of his life.

I'd rather he gave a true reflection of himself rather than some generic technical comments that don't mean much.

Anyhow, you're not going to get any revelations from a post match interview

[BunnyRabbit]

I don't care how poor or manufactured he looks while batting in t20is as long as he can get the job done consistently. Don't care if it's an 80m six or 180m. If he can keep improving, he is there to stay. He gives good vibes and keep the energy up on the field. Need such feisty characters on the field. Him along with Shadab and Hasan add a lot of life and energy into the game provided they keep performing as well.

[BunnyRabbit]

Gotta love his determination and grit. Amazing knock today. Having said that though he doesn't look natural when he's trying to hit big and can often lose his shape. I fear top teams would work him out. He also doesn't seem like a very good player of spin in t20s and since the next wt20 is in India there may be problems there.
I just fear these last 2 innings from Rizwan could end up being a bad thing as now him and Babar are confirmed openers which risks us having a low run rate in powerplay overs and false shots from Babar leading to him underperforming.
Insha Allah I'm proved wrong but I still think opening with Rizwan isn't a good idea. Perhaps play him at 3 instead or get Babar to bat at 3 again.

Pushing either one of him or babar at 3 would be considered if we had someone good enough to open and we don't. Haider is much more comfortable in the middle order. Babar is more comfortable opening the batting. Rizwan for as long as he can keep performing should remain there. We are not spoilt for choices here.

[moghul]

You don't have to be a big man to hit sixes, David Warner is not , Saeed Anwar also had physique like Rizwan.

[jiduguravindra]

Those were big hits too all over 80m 💪🏽
Happy for Rizwan as he is now our 2nd most important player in all formats

For me Rizwan is most important player. He scored most important runs than supposed best player in the team.

[Slim]

One thing i have to give credit to Rizwan is his consistent improvement in each and every facet of the game series by series. He keeps becoming better and better and serves us all with massive servings of humble pie. I was awe struck by his inning yesterday - didnt know he was so good in t20Is as well. He has become the second most important man in the team in no time. What a player!

[Suleiman]

After a long time we have found another big hearted player. Very kind with his sixes.

[umarf76]

You don't have to be a big man to hit sixes, David Warner is not , Saeed Anwar also had physique like Rizwan.

Warner is built like a tank!
People like Anwar and Moin khan hit sixes due to strong wrists. You can add Ganguly to some extent to that.

Rizwan seems to have great bat speed and goes through with his shot.

[Maliq_Mudasir]

His bat speed while playing on leg side is treat to watch.

[Sunny_majoka]

Problem with rizwan is he can't find gaps in powerplay and can only hit cross batted shots,

Good teams will figure him out easily.

[SensiblePakFan]

I think it's rather a dig at Karachi Kings team management who felt he was not a T20 player.

Well he wasnt when he played for them in previous years, hard work helps and now he will merit selection.

[Titan24]

Problem with rizwan is he can't find gaps in powerplay and can only hit cross batted shots,

Good teams will figure him out easily.

He is actually a pretty good offside player as well especially square of the wicket and does find gaps but, in T20s I think he just needs to be a bit more calm at the crease in the power play and play anything on the offside like he normally does and try to be aggressive on the balls which are in the slot or in the stumps towards straight/leg/mid on region like he did in the last match once set. Sometimes he overtries and is a bit fidgety in the initial few overs which impacts his natural scoring areas which he scores off in any other format pretty easily.

Problem with most Pakistani batsmen is that they dont even understand their own game well enough and Rizwan is a pleasant surprise once set. Its very rare that a power game of a player is strong all around the ground so a the focus should be to formulate a game plan with minimum risk and maximum returns and go about it accordingly. Rizwan seems to be doing that really well currently but just needs to fine tune his mindset and plan for the powerplay overs.

[Hawkeye]

Look.

Statements like these take no time to be used against you.

Rizwan is improving a lot in Tests. Has become an important Test player, somewhat in ODIs too if a match isn't 300+ scoring.

But, don't open your mouth too soon on T20s.

It's a fact that he doesn't have the ability to time sixes and place boundaries effortlessly.

He still needs very bad balls in the slot against medium pavers to be able to clear the rope. Or hit fours at will.

He won't get it against top bowling or in tournaments.

Improve the game. Earn respect. Don't open mouth too soon.

[LeedsGreen]

Look.

Statements like these take no time to be used against you.

Rizwan is improving a lot in Tests. Has become an important Test player, somewhat in ODIs too if a match isn't 300+ scoring.

But, don't open your mouth too soon on T20s.

It's a fact that he doesn't have the ability to time sixes and place boundaries effortlessly.

He still needs very bad balls in the slot against medium pavers to be able to clear the rope. Or hit fours at will.

He won't get it against top bowling or in tournaments.

Improve the game. Earn respect. Don't open mouth too soon.

Statements like these ? he says hes working hard to try and show he can hit 6s? this is the exact sort of attitude we need
he clearly works very hard and has improved massively- hes not perfect but hes the best we have atm in his role and i just do not understand the criticism hes getting

[MenInG]

Video of Sixes from Rizwan are in post#1.

[GudduBadmash]

Look.

Statements like these take no time to be used against you.

Rizwan is improving a lot in Tests. Has become an important Test player, somewhat in ODIs too if a match isn't 300+ scoring.

But, don't open your mouth too soon on T20s.

It's a fact that he doesn't have the ability to time sixes and place boundaries effortlessly.

He still needs very bad balls in the slot against medium pavers to be able to clear the rope. Or hit fours at will.

He won't get it against top bowling or in tournaments.

Improve the game. Earn respect. Don't open mouth too soon.

So you saying his sixes against New Zealand and South Africa were not effortless?

You hear the sound off the middle of the bat?

Honestly I doubt Pakistani Cricket will ever go far since this is the mindset of someone after a guy has proven all his critics wrong two games in a row.

If you think like this with an agenda then there are those higher up that will too.

This is precisely the reason Fawad Alam has suffered. Those too quick to point out his batting technique ahead of his grit

[GreenKhan]

I still don’t see how people think on Current form Rizwan is not worthy of a place as an t20 opener . He has played two back to back knocks of the highest quality . One in New Zealand and one in Pakistan . He also has shown he can play accelerate as the innings go on .

There is no such thing as the perfect t20 opener and Pakistan most definitely don’t have that luxury . He needs to improve his SR in the power plays but we have others like Babar and Haider who can try and dominate the power play which then compliments Rizwans game as he a decent rotator of strike .

Our other openers are either out of form (Fakhar). , or out of shape ( Sharjeel) and I won’t move Haider from 3.

[Hawkeye]

Statements like these ? he says hes working hard to try and show he can hit 6s? this is the exact sort of attitude we need
he clearly works very hard and has improved massively- hes not perfect but hes the best we have atm in his role and i just do not understand the criticism hes getting

That's what I'm saying. He should continue working hard. Because there's a lot to improve for him in T20s still.

He's coming out in public with condescending statements as if he has mastered the art of T20 batting.

Work hard. Improve. Prove. That'll do the talking.

So you saying his sixes against New Zealand and South Africa were not effortless?

You hear the sound off the middle of the bat?

Honestly I doubt Pakistani Cricket will ever go far since this is the mindset of someone after a guy has proven all his critics wrong two games in a row.

If you think like this with an agenda then there are those higher up that will too.

This is precisely the reason Fawad Alam has suffered. Those too quick to point out his batting technique ahead of his grit

You need to read my post again and improve your comprehension.

He needs to continue improving. Theres still work to do in his T20 batting and it'll become more prominent when he doesn't get loose balls or in his slot.

Let his bat do the talking and not make arrogant statements.

[Saj]

Look like some pretty big hits, 80m plus and not the 50m or 60m sixes that some have been suggesting.

[Snowflake]

Maybe his faith is what informs his cricketing performance prominently? A lot of performance relates to ones mindset, and he clearly constructs that around his faith. Nothing wrong in referring to that aspect of his life.

I'd rather he gave a true reflection of himself rather than some generic technical comments that don't mean much.

Anyhow, you're not going to get any revelations from a post match interview

Right, so if a young cricketer comes up to him and asks him to give him some tips, would he say "leave everything to the almighty and he'll help you"?

Again, no one is looking to evaluate the strength of his faith! And we're asking for revelations, but a quick insight into his mindset, adjustments he's made to improve his six hitting ability would be far more relevant at that occasion.

[Hasan123]

I think he is going to end up opening in ODIs and I think he can do a good job. Not like we have many options in that role so I think it’s worth a go.

[Abdullah719]

He’s coming out in public with condescending statements as if he has mastered the art of T20 batting.

You clearly didn’t watch the interview where he said this if you think he was being arrogant or condescending.

[MenInG]

Mohammad Rizwan last 10 scores for Pakistan:

51, 104*, 18, 115*, 33, 61, 10, 71, 60 and 89#Cricket

— Saj Sadiq (@Saj_PakPassion) February 13, 2021

[JibranAnsari]

struggled in later half of the innings today but so did all pakistani batsmen.

[Saj]

There was no arrogance or mischief in what Rizwan said.

Just a cheeky dig at those who had doubted his ability to hit 6s.