Mohammad Rizwan — Coming out of shadows by infusing freshness in the Pakistan team

A flight takes time to take off, a rose needs time to blossom and dreams do take time to come true. Some establish themselves quickly in the team by virtue of immense talent and run-scoring ability, while some take a bit of time to start because they are under the constant shadows of other cricketers. Mohammad Rizwan certainly falls into the other category, as he was slow, to begin with, before truly establishing himself as Pakistan’s first choice wicketkeeper-batter.

Idolizing Adam Gilchrist, the diminutive wicketkeeper-batter always thought of becoming one and representing the national team sooner rather than later. But he had to wait for his opportunities, as former Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed was the team’s captain as well as the designated wicketkeeper-batter. Hence, Rizwan had only two options left, either wait for his chance or score tons and tons of runs to make selectors take notice of his hard work and talent. And runs he scored in the domestic circuit before the selectors finally gave in and included the 29-year-old in the team.

Having made his debut in all the formats in 2015 and 2016, opportunities arrived for him at a snail’s pace as Ahmed was still in his prime and leading the team. Things got a bit tougher for Rizwan when Ahmed led Pakistan to the victory in the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017, beating India. The wait continued for the wicketkeeper-batter as Pakistan nicely marched along under the leadership of Ahmed, who also took them to the top of the world rankings in the T20I format.

But life turned upside down for Ahmed after a disastrous campaign in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, when Pakistan failed to qualify for the semifinals. The right-hand batter also copped a fair bit of criticism for being unfit and not able to score runs with the bat, when the team needed it the most. Naturally, the management was left frustrated and eventfully had to take a stern decision of sacking Ahmed from the captaincy initially from the shorter formats, before sacking him from the Tests too.

Mohammad Rizwan’s opportunity finally arrived

After patiently waiting in the wings for an opportunity to come, Rizwan got his due as he got selected against Sri Lanka in November 2019 and later was named in the Test squad for the series Down Under.

The wicketkeeper-batter grabbed his chances with both hands and went on to score a patient 95 in the second innings after a controversial dismissal in the first innings for 37 in the first of the two-match Test series against Australia in Brisbane. Clearly, there were no signs of tentativeness and rustiness. Although Australia thrashed Pakistan by comprehensively winning the series 2-0, the 29-year-old’s decent batting and wicketkeeping stood out.

The right-hand batter was tested positive for COVID-19, but that didn’t stop him from scoring runs against a quality England side in a three-match away series, as he scored 161 runs which included two half-centuries, and was outstanding behind the stumps, to be named the Player of the Series. Cricketer-turned-commentator Nasser Hussain lauded the diminutive right-hand batter and was impressed by his composed batting and compact wicketkeeping.

The taste of captaincy

In December 2020, when regular skipper Babar Azam was ruled out of the Test series against New Zealand, the management took the punt on Rizwan and named him the skipper during the two-match series. In what turned out to a thriller of a match at Bay Oval, Mount Maunganui, Rizwan and the returning Fawad Alam frustrated the home side for close to 60 overs and almost pulled off an improbable draw, only to be denied by a brilliant spell of fast bowling by Kyle Jamieson.

Rizwan scored 60 runs and yet again proved his class during crunch situations. Yet again the series was lost, but Pakistan had found a potential leader in Rizwan, who was surely was making the right noises.

A breakthrough 2021 season 

Pakistan kicked things off in style by hosting South Africa for an all-format tour in February 2021. Rightly and quietly scoring runs, Rizwan eliminated Ahmed from the team. The 29-year-old ticked one milestone during the Test series against South Africa as he brought up his maiden hundred and thereby solidified his reputation as Pakistan’s first-choice wicketkeeper batter. He was also named the Player of the Series, collecting his second Test series award within seven months.

If South Africa thought they had enough of the wicketkeeper-batter, they were in for a rude shock as Rizwan also brought up his first T20I century, scoring an unbeaten 104 in a masterclass. He thus added another feather to his already impressive-looking CV by being only the second wicketkeeper-batter to score a hundred in each of the three formats. Indeed Rizwan was here to stay for a long time. But he was not satisfied by this ton and wanted to maintain consistency, and yet again the sufferers were the Proteas.

During the third T20I between South Africa and Pakistan, the 29-year-old along with Azam shared a 197-run partnership, thereby making a mockery of 200 plus run-chase. This was also the highest first-wicket partnership recorded by Pakistan and the highest ever by a pair in T20I cricket.

A look at Rizwan’s T20 and Test numbers in 2021

‘Multan Ka Sultan’

If you thought Rizwan would score runs only against international teams, then he was ought to prove those thinkers wrong, as he scored runs for Multan Sultans too in the sixth edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL). After being in and out of the team for Lahore Qalandars and Karachi Kings in the first few editions of PSL, Rizwan’s true value truly came to the fore for Sultans this season as he scored 500 runs which included four half-centuries at an average of 45.45.

He was the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament and the leading run-scorer for Sultans. Apart from that, he helped his side turn a corner and win all the matches in the Abu Dhabi leg to help Sultans win a first PSL trophy. Truly he became the darling of Multan and his stocks sky-rocketed.

A leader in the making

Well, it’s a known fact that Azam is an all-format skipper for Pakistan, but the wicketkeeper-batter’s rise not as a batter, but as the leader too has given the management a possible option to explore that too. Mushtaq Ahmed the Sultans spin bowling consultant was impressed by Rizwan and stated he can be the leader in the future.

But that discussion is for the other day, whatever the management decides it’s not in Rizwan’s hands, but scoring runs and rising up to the ladder of success is surely in his hands, which he is doing perfectly fine at the moment. Rizwan has brought hope, optimism, and freshness to the Pakistan team, who no longer have to worry about wicketkeeping.