Mohammad Rizwan, Pakistan white-ball captain, was trolled by Men in Green fans after his poorly paced knock during an 184-run chase against South Africa in the first T20I led to his team’s loss. The first of the three T20Is was played on Tuesday in Durban.
Heinrich Klaasen, captaining South Africa for the first time, won the toss and chose to bat first. Despite losing the first three wickets for cheap, thanks to David Miller’s 82 in 40 balls with 4 fours and 8 sixes and George Linde’s 48 in 24 balls with 3 fours and 4 sixes, propelled South Africa to 183/9 in 20 overs.
Shaheen Afridi and Abrar Ahmed took 3 wickets each and, in the process, Shaheen completed 100 wickets in T20Is. He became the first Pakistani to have 100 or more wickets in each format of international cricket.
In response, Mohammad Rizwan, who started the batting alongside former captain Babar Azam, played till the final over but could not lead Pakistan home, as South Africa won by 11 runs. Rizwan's poor start to the innings was one of the primary reasons Pakistan never looked like chasing the target.
Rizwan scored fewer than a run per ball at the end of the 16th over when Pakistan's required rate had reached fifteen. Until the 15th over of the contest, the right-handed wicketkeeper-batter managed only two fours, one of which came in Pakistan's first over of the chase.
He hit a few shots, especially in the 17th over, hitting Kwena Maphaka for two sixes, but it wasn’t enough for Pakistan as they lost the match by 11 runs.
After the match, cricket fans, especially from Pakistan, were enraged at the way Mohammad Rizwan played in the chase. Despite his knock, the Men in Green lost the game. They slammed the T20I captain for his knock on social media.
Here are the posts:
