Pakistan wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan produced a knock that the cricket world would remember for a long time. Chasing a stiff target of 345 runs against Sri Lanka on Tuesday, Rizwan registered an unbeaten knock of 131 runs to take his team home. With Pakistan next set to take on India in Ahmedabad, Rizwan sounded confident of a victory against the home team, saying his side has got momentum having beaten the Lankans in a tough contest. In fact, the wicket-keeper batter also said that Babar Azam & Co. would go with the same plan against Rohit Sharma’s men.
“Our next match is against India and this will give us confidence and we will go with the same plan,” Rizwan said in the post-match press conference. “We now have momentum. Tomorrow, our next match, everyone knows that it is with India, but they will also come with a plan, we will also come with a plan.”
After playing two matches in Hyderabad, Pakistan are now set to travel to Ahmedabad for their third match of the World Cup 2023. Having been in Hyderabad since reaching India, Rizwan said that he found quite a few similarities between the wicket at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium and Rawalpindi.
“And where you talked about Hyderabad, I felt like I was playing a match in Pindi. The way the crowd gave love today, and not just me, the whole Pakistan team gave love. In fact, they supported Sri Lanka too. Because I am happy that the crowd in Hyderabad has supported cricket, both Sri Lanka and us. I had a lot of fun with them,” Rizwan said.
The Pakistan star also revealed that he had an interesting conversation with the pitch curator in Hyderabad about how batting-friendly the wicket is going to be.
“The curator here said the same thing to me. When we got to the ground for the first time, he said, Rizwan, you must hit two 100s on this ground. I met him today as well. We can pray for him and you should pray for him too,” Rizwan revealed.
“When we reached the ground, Abdul Rahman who is also our coach and there were 2-3 more players with me, said, ‘Rizwan this pitch looks like a batting pitch. When we were bowling, I think it was 32nd or 33rd over that time, I told (Mohammed) Nawaz and 2-3 other players, if we restrict Sri Lanka to 340-plus, then I hope it’s the best. If it goes above that, it means we’re not bowling well.”
When asked about hospitality in Hyderabad, Rizwan said that it’s all well known who well his team was received upon reaching India.
“Hospitality, you all must have seen it. Someone must have taken pictures when we came to the airport. I said earlier that I felt like I was playing in front of crowd of Rawalpindi. Our ground in Lahore is big, a lot of people come there but today it seems that Pakistan’s match is taking place in Rawalpindi,” Rizwan said while speaking to the media on Tuesday.
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