Harare’s different pitch made us struggle for runs: Rizwan

ISLAMABAD: Mohammad Rizwan (82 not out), who played yet another match-winning innings to guide Pakistan to a narrow 11-run win in the first T20I against Zimbabwe, said that changed conditions Wednesday made the task tougher for his team.

In an online interview from Zimbabwe after receiving the man-of-the-match award, Rizwan said playing in totally changed conditions always remains a difficult task for every squad.

“We were wary of the conditions knowing well that these surfaces are totally different to that in South Africa. That exactly happened here as we struggled to get runs when we were put into bat first. We wanted to bowl first because we did not have a clue about nature of the pitch. Zimbabwe pitches are quite different. Here a score of around 170 can easily be billed as match-winning. Usually, you find a double pace wicket here where big-hitting becomes all the more difficult. Our batsmen struggled to hit big shots because of the awkward bounce.”

Rizwan also praised his captain Babar Azam, saying he always helped him upfront.

“What we had in our mind was that one of the openers would stay till the last. Sometimes I take over and sometimes Babar does. I am thankful to Allah Almighty that I stayed till the end to make sure that we set a reasonable target to defend.”

The wicketkeeper batsmen added that even after putting up a 149 on the board, they were sure of a good contest.

“We knew well that even 160 was a very good target. Our batsmen struggled to play shots and kept on losing wickets. But I knew I was there and my efforts had always been to reach a decent score and that was around 150 which we ultimately achieved. Had Hafeez Bahi stayed with me, I was sure we could have even reached 170 but he lost his wicket to a brilliant catch.”

Rizwan hopped to see a much better performance from the batting side going into the second T20.

“You would see a different Pakistan batting in the second T20 mainly because we have now seen the nature of the wicket and know well what is required in these conditions. Not losing wickets earlier on is the key here. Batsmen are gilled and geared up to put up a better performance in days to come.”

The wicketkeeper-batsman had all praise for the bowlers, saying they remained stick to the challenge, making sure that even 149 was defendable.

“That is a quality of a world-class attack. They have the guts to stick to the challenge and even defend a low total. On one hand, if we have some concerns about batting, on the other we should praise our bowling for making sure that Pakistan stays in the match and can win it.”