Rizwan weighs in on loss against New Zealand in warm-up fixture

Rizwan weighs in on loss against the New Zealand in the World Cup 2023 warm-up fixture!

On Friday, Pakistan, after scoring a ton of 345/5 while batting first, was defeated by NZ by 5 wickets with five balls spare.

Pakistan’s top-order batsman and wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan was the top scorer of the match with 103(93) runs.

Rizwan — despite the loss — sees a silver lining and is of the view that we got both positive results and learning outcomes with potential for improvement from the experimentation in the warm-up match.

Rizwan on Saturday said that the “fielding cost us the match” as the team tried new things to test the bench (strength) ahead of World Cup 2023.

Expressing his views in an interview released by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), the wicketkeeper-batsman said that warm-up matches are “meant for applying new improvement strategies” and the team did just that by experimenting in their warm-up match against the NZ a day earlier.

Blaming below-average fielding for yesterday’s loss against the Kiwis, Rizwan said that changes and experiments in fielding positions — which have been consistent for the past one and a half years — led to the warm-up match loss with the NZ successfully chasing down a 346-run target.

“We have to improve in some areas. We have been doing good in the fielding department [but in the warm-up match] things were different, [fielding] positions were changed,” he said.

“I believe fielding cost us the match,” he added.

Rizwan while commenting on the 346-run chase by the New Zealand team, Rizwan said that Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan, and Iftikhar Ahmed didn’t bowl their respective 10 overs, nor did Haris Rauf bowl his remaining six overs.

Expressing his views on his unbeaten 103 runs off 93 balls, the wicketkeeper-batsman said that he had an idea that the pitches in India were favorable for batting.

“I and skipper [Babar Azam] try to assess the conditions and play according to the situation,” he said.

“You always get satisfaction no matter where you score a century, whether it be domestic or club cricket,” Rizwan said while commenting on his innings.

While talking about the welcome that the Pakistani team received upon arrival in India, Rizwan said that they always get support and love from Indian fans around the world.

“We thought we landed at Karachi, Lahore airport after winning the World Cup […] the players had goosebumps,” he said on the warm welcome by the jubilant Indian crowd which had gathered at the airport to get a glimpse of the Men in Green.