Mohammad Rizwan has established himself as one of the best wicketkeeper-batters around the world in recent times. He played a vital role in helping Pakistan reach the semi-final of the 2021 T20 World Cup and formed a formidable opening pair with skipper Babar Azam.
Babar and Rizwan put up a massive 152-run unbeaten partnership against the Virat Kohli-led Indian side to help the Men in Green register their first-ever victory over their arch-rivals in a World Cup encounter during the showpiece event last year. They later beat eventual finalist New Zealand to all but confirm their place in the knockout stages.
Recalling the clash, Rizwan described the experience of meeting the likes of Kohli and MS Dhoni for the first time. The Pakistani batter hailed the Indian players for the love and affection they showed him. The 30-year-old called all cricketers including as one family while explaining his recent viral comment where he called the Indian batting icon as ‘Our Virat Kohli.’
“It was the first time I was meeting Kohli. The kind of things I had heard about him… like other players told me ‘Virat is aggressive and all’. But the way he met me before and after the match, it was amazing. If I said ‘he is our Virat Kohli’, it’s because we all are a family. Obviously, when we enter the ground, no one is a star.
“There we have no brotherhood or anything of that sort. But outside the field, when we met Kohli, and some of our players also met MS Dhoni, we met with a lot of love and affection. Nothing was different,” said Rizwan on Waheed Khan’s Youtube show Cricket Baaz.
Talking about his relationship with Indian players, Rizwan elaborated on his recent stint in County cricket where he was veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara’s teammate at Sussex. The Pakistan wicket-keeper claimed he used to jokingly tease Pujara a lot, who laughs at his jokes.
“Even in County cricket, where Pujara is with me, believe me, we live with so much love. In fact, I am the one who keeps bugging him, call him out. He keeps laughing. Similarly, it was same with Virat Kohli as well. When I met him the first time, it was with a lot of love and affection,” said Rizwan.
India and Pakistan will once again open their campaign in the 2022 T20 World Cup with a match against each other on 23rd October at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. The two countries are expected to face each other in the Asia Cup before that.
