Rizwan made his domestic debut in 2008. He was pretty ordinary in the initial stage and it took him a while to find his form. When he finally did and made it to the international team, he knew he needed something special to cement his spot.
He tried. He wanted to be the team’s main man but main men often bat up the order. In his debut, the team was in Dhaka, Rahim made a ton to drag Bangladesh to 330. The then skipper Azhar Ali had 72 and Haris Sohail had 51 but Rizwan’s 67 stood out as it was the only knock that came with a strike-rate of over a hundred. A few matches later, even better. This time, the opponent was Sri Lanka. Rizwan got to 38-ball 52.
With that score, one would expect him to excel in T20s but that side of the story was a nightmare. He was giving the selectors a good reason to sack him there. Soon, when England met Pakistan, they not only destroyed Rizwan but also his career that was going through a lean patch. While he was struggling, Sarfaraz Ahmed was having the best years. Even when Rizwan and Sarfaraz played together, Rizwan would make the 30s while Sarfaraz would easily get those 50s. The latter began to shine and Rizwan had no way but to tour as his understudy. Soon, Sarfaraz began to become the stronger force in the team and when he took over the captaincy, Rizwan didn’t even make it as an understudy because Sarfaraz had his spot fixed.
But Rizwan is always patient. He knew he would come around. He went back to his basics and continued to dominate. In 2018, he once again made heads turn with 140 off 123 balls against Federal Areas. He was too good that day that the team had to run him out. Soon, he became the captain of the domestic teams, wherever he played. First, Federal Areas then Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A few months later, probably one of the finest knocks, a career redefining one happened. Pakistan A was taking on England Lions. The latter made 245, thanks to Pope’s 93.
It certainly not an easy pitch to bat on and England Lions made use of conditions to rattle their opponent. They succeeded in destroying almost everyone but Rizwan. The latter stood took like a mountain while wickets fell around him. Though the team failed, Rizwan listed the reasons why he deserved to be in the Pakistan team. He made 141* that day. The second-highest score in the team was 32 and the 3rd highest was Extras-19. No other player even made it to double-figures that day. Though the team had lost, this was something way too good from the man who was still searching for an opening, almost 10 years after his domestic debut.
Comebacks don’t happen for everyone. Comebacks suck for some. Comebacks might take people to worse places. There is a manifold expectation. All eyes are going be on you, not to support but to find ways to take you down.
Years ago, when Rizwan made his debut, he scores were all against the teams which are at the middle or at the bottom in ICC Rankings. When he took on the top teams, he was exposed and was dropped. This time, it is all different. In fact, the best.
For Rizwan, things took a weird turn. Misbah ul Haq happened. Sarfaraz was no longer to be seen as Rizwan took the main job. Of course, it didn’t come without controversy. People were too disheartened to see their former captain carry drinks. They took on Rizwan. The pressure got bigger when he became the vice-captain of the team. To make things weird, Pakistan’s poster-boy Babar Azam picked up an injury which made him sit out. Rizwan, in a whisker, was named the captain of the team. A year ago, he wasn’t even around and now, he was with the captaincy, a responsibility to lead the team from the front, with the bat, with the gloves and most importantly on the field.
Now, as a batter, he wasn’t seen as a specialist one when he came back. He was more of a wicket-keeper who can contribute. Rizwan though had a different role in his mind, the one, he loves playing. The Fighter. The one who never gives up no matter the result. He did put up a fight, a difficult one when he scored five consecutive fifties in Tests, beginning from England to New Zealand. His other big score is 95, which came against Australia.
All these scores came when Pakistan badly needed it. When there was a lack of comfort cushion of runs. 120/5. 75/5. 52/5. 75/4. 83/4.
Among all these knocks, his 60 that came against New Zealand in the 2nd innings of the first Test spoke a lot about his mindset and how good he is when it comes to the situations like this. Probably, he took a leaf from Fawad Alam’s book of comebacks and played a fighting knock along with Alam himself. He spent 285 minutes on the field, to take his team to a draw. He almost pulled it off. This came against a fierce Jamieson, the ever-threatening Trent Boult. Matt Henry was there too.
We all knew a ton was around the corner when Rizwan said-after losing New Zealand series- that we will do well in the series against South Africa.
Rizwan almost looked flawless that everyone forgot the existence of Azam in the South Africa series. He took the opportunity, made scoring runs look easier. In fact, the batting at that pitch wasn’t as easy as he made it look. Even Rizwan agreed to that. He said it was unplayable and it was God’s grace. Now, this is another thing you got to love about him. He likes to keep things simple. He likes to downplay. He said he would take full responsibility for the loss against New Zealand. He said nobody can predict the result but one can put in all the hard work. He is just too good when it comes to talking too. Well… Sort off.
When you are having a time of your life, everything goes by your way. When he was always a good ODI batter, T20I looked like it wasn’t his cup of tea but Rizwan wanted it to happen.
Two bad performances in the first two T20Is means, he had to pull up socks as the time was running out. There were calls to bring back Sarfaraz as well. When he walked out to chase in the 3rd T20I against New Zealand, he had more than one target.
He initially failed to connect most of the deliveries. He did struggle. He had to drag himself to the half-century and took 40 balls to reach there. The run-rate, on the other hand, kept rising. The team needed a different version of Rizwan. A version nobody had seen so far. Something, even he didn’t know existed. However, he is a fighter. He never gives up that easy. Rizwan then took 18 balls to score his next 38 runs, before getting out. At this point, Pakistan had already won the match and had pulled off one of the best chases.
When he took the field against South Africa. He had a different challenge. It was more about telling the people that his first knock was not a fluke. It’s about cementing his position in the format. It’s about justifying his selection. It’s about enjoying the week and it’s more about silencing the people who called him names.
He didn’t begin well though. 7 from 11. Then 31 from 30. Then his pace changed. Three sixes in Dala’s over, took him to 50 off 35, then after almost similar deliveries later, he got to his 100. With a six off Phehlukwayo over deep midwicket. What’s more special about this knock? He scored more than 60 per cent of the runs. The next top-scorer was Haider Ali with 21.
This is not like the first time we are seeing someone special from Pakistan. They tend to fade away even before we could think about betting on them. Babar Azam has managed to prove otherwise. Rizwan is currently having the best days of his life. He is on the top now. Hopefully, he stays there. Pakistan needs this. Cricket needs this. All those heads who believe in making wonders with the limited-shot approach need this.
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A year or so ago, When Pakistan was taking on Tim Paine, the latter during one of his banter from behind the stumps said that Rizwan smells really nice. We might not know that but we can be sure that if he bats, Pakistan certainly smells good.
Mohammad Rizwan
