Pakistan vice-captain Mohammad Rizwan has given a blunt reply to criticism that he and other Pakistani players are facing recently after their failure to win the Asia Cup 2022 as they lost to Sri Lanka in the final and then lost to England in the first T20I on Sept 20th.
England defeated Pakistan quite comfortably by 6 wickets in Karachi. Batting first, Pakistan posted 158/7 in 20 overs with Rizwan making 68 off 46 deliveries. In reply, Alex Hales’ fifty, his first for England in three years and 42* from Harry Brook steered England to the target with four balls remaining.
One of the major concerns for the Pakistan side has been the low strike rate of their openers Rizwan and Babar, and many former cricketers had debated on the same throughout the last few weeks.
With Rizwan scoring at a brisk rate, a reporter, during the post-match press conference, asked the keeper-batter if his innings was a focused attempt at displaying intent.
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To this, Rizwan said: “Dekho, mujhe toh nahi pata kaun behes kar raha hai hampe. Mujhe inn cheezo ka nahi pata. Doosri baat, jo bhi hampe behes kar raha hai usko Allah khair de. Kyunki vo sirf hamaare liye nahi, poore Pakistan ke liye soch raha hai. (see, I don't know who is debating about us. This is the first thing. Secondly, even if someone is doing that, may Allah bless him. Because he's not just thinking about me or Babar, he's thinking about the whole Pakistan team).”
The Pakistan wicketkeeper, however, also stated that if the criticism has been made out of spite, then the concerned critic is bound to face “dishonor.”
“I don't know if it's the former players or the media, but may Allah bless them. But I want to say one thing. To whoever is debating about us, if any of us, the players, is not playing with complete honesty towards Pakistan, he will face dishonor. Whoever is talking about us, if he is doing that out of spite, then he will face dishonor as well. Being honest is our biggest priority,” said Rizwan.
“They are thinking the best about Pakistan, and we are trying our best as well. I also make mistakes, and I try to do better than that. The captain also tries to improve, everyone does,” he further said.
Here is the video of the same:
