Pakistan’s star wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan shared an interesting tale from the time when the Men in Green handed a crushing 10-wicket defeat to India in a group match at the T20 World Cup 2021 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in the UAE.
Rizwan scored unbeaten 79 runs from 55 balls with the help of six fours and three sixes and stitched an unbeaten 152-run stand with the skipper Babar Azam (68* off 52 balls) to power Pakistan to a famous win over Team India during the T20 World Cup last year.
Well, it was the first match for Rizwan against India, so he took it as just another match. But after the match, he realized what the victory meant to his countrymen, as the vice-captain recalled how shopkeepers in his country wouldn’t charge him for his phenomenal knock against India.
In an interview with Sky Sports Cricket, Mohammad Rizwan told Mike Atherton: “When we won against India, that time, I thought it was only a match for me. It was because we won that game easily. But when I came to Pakistan, I realized how much it meant.”
He revealed shopkeepers wouldn't accept money from him wherever he went and gave him lots of love for his role in defeating India in that one match.
He added, “Whenever I went to a shop, they won't take money from me. They would say, 'you go, you go. I won't take money from you!' People would say, 'everything is free for you here'. This is the love from all of Pakistan after that match.”
