Pakistan has been a strong force in T20 cricket since the format’s inception in 2005. A team that has competed in the knockout rounds of the first four World Cups, has once won the trophy, and is one of the favourites in the ICC World T20 event now being held in the United Arab Emirates.
This time, Pakistan, which is known for relying on its bowlers, will look to wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan to lead the team to a second T20 World Cup victory.
Rizwan’s tale can act as motivation for other young Pakistani cricketers.
Following his T20 debut against Bangladesh in 2015, the rookie wicketkeeper from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa earned 106 runs in his first ten games with a strike-rate of about 100, plainly not up to grade at any level.
Rizwan had only played a few games in his first four years of professional cricket because skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed was the team’s first choice wicketkeeper at the time. Sarfaraz Ahmed was finally given a full opportunity when the PCB elected to dismiss him following the team’s heartbreaking home loss to Sri Lanka in 2019. Rizwan, on the other hand, had to make a comeback in the hard Australian conditions that are a batsman’s worst nightmare.
As a result, Rizwan had an ordinary run, scoring 45 runs in three matches with a strike rate of less than 100, and Pakistan suffered a series defeat at the hands of the Australians.
