Mohammad Rizwan was at his cheeriest right after Pakistan
defeated Netherlands in a game that was much closer than the 81-run difference
would indicate, starting their pursuit of “unfinished business from
2019”.
He mentioned, among other things, the exhilaration of
performing in several places during his maiden tour of India, the wonderful
welcome, and a comfortable, homelike sense. Of course, his effusive praise of
Saud Shakeel, who he thinks has the potential to become a
“superstar,” was the one that stuck out.
With a century stand with Rizwan in only his seventh
ODI, Shakeel orchestrated Pakistan’s recovery from 38 for 3. Rizwan had the
greatest seat in the house, the non-striker’s end, as Shakeel took the
initiative and smashed a 32-ball half-century.
As a result of Shakeel’s knock’s fascinating influence
on him, Rizwan stopped discussing plans and strategies halfway through their
partnership and instead just relished Shakeel’s stretch of batting that allowed
Netherlands to lose the game after they were rocked early.
“If Saud maintains the hard work he’s doing, then
Pakistan will have found themselves another superstar,” Rizwan said.
“Because he’s a bit different in the way he’s gifted. While I plan or
discuss batting with Babar Azam in a partnership, when I bat with Saud I tell
him I’m not planning anything with him, because the way he plays his shots get
him runs anyway.
“If he plays like he normally does, he’ll be fine
and score quickly. But he has gifts that make him a different kind of
superstar. We had said that we’d start to plan after 33 overs for the final
stages of the innings. But then he got out a little short of 33 overs, and so
did I (laughs).”
When Rizwan was casually asked what he thought of the
ineffective top order, particularly Fakhar Zaman, his demeanour was put to the
test. Since his 180 not out against New Zealand, the third of his back-to-back
hundreds between January and April, he has scored at a best of 33 in 11
innings.
“Yes, it’s a good question,” he started with
a laugh. “But you also have to understand, the last two years, the reason
for us becoming No. 1 was our top three. Just before the Asia Cup, Fakhar Zaman
was named the ICC Player of the Month. Before that, Imam had hundreds upon
hundreds. We think this is an opportunity for the middle order to showcase its
form. And now the middle order is also performing.
“The good sign for Pakistan is now we’re not only
dependent on the top three, with contributions from the rest of the top seven
coming too. I think proper teams don’t depend on one or two players. It’s much
better when the whole team performs, so we’re happy with how it’s working
out.”