Image Source- ICC
A jubilant welcome was given to the Pakistani team
when they landed in Hyderabad two weeks ago. On Wednesday, they’ll depart the
city with two victories and the same warmth that they arrived with.
On Tuesday night, the second of those was exceptional.
On a night of excellent batting that produced four hundreds, Pakistan completed
the highest successful World Cup chase in front of a sizable audience of almost
25,000 spectators.
Soon after Mohammad Rizwan began to limp and cramp in
agony as he neared his century, the DJ roused the crowd with the well-known
“Jeetega Bhai Jeetega” cries. ‘Pakistan jeetega’ was used to finish
it. No one missed the opportunity. Even Babar Azam, who was seated on the steps
of their pavilion and had his eyes fixed on the event, smiled. It was unique in
every way.
The head curator greeted Rizwan as he arrived to
prepare for toss time and said, “Rizwan, 200 here.” After viewing
Pakistan’s home, Rizwan recalled those remarks. Long after the enthusiastic
welcome, he walked towards the middle with Shaheen Afridi to thank the ground
crew in person and pose for pictures with each of them.
Rizwan spoke to the welcome as
“unbelievable” and compared the energy to performing in front of a
packed crowd back home. He frequently used the word mohabbat (love/adulation)
to express how he was feeling at the moment. He had been sagging pitchside,
ripping his gloves off, and collapsing on the ground just an hour before. The
only thing that kept him going was the adrenaline. A little “magic
liquid” later, he was up again, slowly but definitely razing the target
with Ifthikhar Ahmed and Saud Shakeel.
“It felt like I was playing in Rawalpindi,”
he said of the atmosphere. “The way the crowd gave us mohabbat, it was
amazing. Not just to me and the Pakistan team, but even to the Sri Lankan team.
I had great fun. I say Rawalpindi in terms of atmosphere because the noise
levels were like that. Lahore is a bit bigger, so you have a lot many more
people. It felt like a home match for us.”
Rizwan was asked about what’s changed for him in ODI
cricket. How he’s adapted to the No. 4 role and the adjustments he’s had to
make.
“Nothing, I know just hard work,” he said,
philosophically. “I believe in luck. When I started my innings today, the
first edge that went for three, it went over the fielder’s head. It could’ve so
easily gone to hand. I just believe in hard work and leave the rest to god. I
haven’t done anything too different.
What Rizwan gave to Hyderabad was a piece of his
heart. He got back much more in return. As he walked off to a stream of selfie
seekers, he obliged them one by one, before sipping on some more energy drink,
slowly soaking in the calm of an empty stadium, giving one final dua with closed
eyes to the venue that loved him before heading back into the change room one
final time.