‘Hyderabad felt like Rawalpindi’: Mohammed Rizwan

Pakistan’s Mohammed Rizwan en route his 131 not out v SL at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Tuesday. Pic/PTI

Mohammed Rizwan will fondly remember the local curator in his prayers for producing a batting beauty that helped him smash a ton and guide his team to a comfortable six-wicket win against Sri Lanka in a record-breaking chase in the World Cup.

The deeply religious keeper-batter scored an unbeaten 131 off 121 balls as Pakistan's 345 for 4 is the highest successful run-chase in the history of World Cup. "When we got to the ground for the first time, he [curator] said, ‘Rizwan, you must hit two 100s on this ground.' I met him today [Tuesday] as well. We can pray for him and you should pray for him too," Rizwan said at the post-match press conference as Pakistan team ended its two-week Hyderabad leg on a high with two wins in two games.

Unforgettable love from fans

In fact, the kind of affection and reception Pakistan received in Nizam's own land made Rizwan feel like as if he was playing in Rawalpindi. "I felt like I was playing a match in Pindi. The crowd gave [us] love today [Tuesday], and not just me, the whole Pakistan team got love. In fact, they supported Sri Lanka too. I am happy that the crowd in Hyderabad has supported cricket, both Sri Lanka and us. I had a lot of fun with them."

Pakistan's Shafique Abdullah celebrates his ton v SL. Pic/AFP

"Hospitality, you all must have seen it. Someone must have taken pictures when we came to the airport. I said earlier that I felt like I was playing in front of crowd of Rawalpindi. Our ground in Lahore is big, a lot of people come there but today it seems that Pakistan's match is taking place in Rawalpindi," Rizwan said, while speaking to the media on Tuesday.

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Rizwan's 176-run third wicket stand with fellow centurion Abdullah Shafique set the tone and in hindsight it seemed like a correct decision to drop an out-of-form Fakhar Zaman and bring the youngster in. "This is the management and captain's decision. As senior players, we can give advice," said Rizwan.

However, he remembered on reaching the ground, assistant coach Abdul Rahman told him that it was a batting strip.

Shafique, an exciting talent

Shafique, one of the exciting talents in Pakistan cricket, scored 113 off 103 balls with 10 fours and three sixes and Rizwan's advice to him was to break the target down.
So what was he telling the younger partner during their 176-run stand? "I told Abdullah, ‘Don't look at the board'. We kept following our plan, because there was a separate plan till the 20 over, there was a separate plan till the 30 and then there was a separate plan till the 40 over. This is what we planned.

"In big chases we have had contributions from Babar Azam. Unfortunately, when he got out, we chalked a plan that now till 20 overs, we would bat normally. It was this communication and calculation. The way Abdullah built the innings in the beginning, the kind of shots he hit, made it easy for us to chase the score," he said.

How they did it

Shafique to Rizwan: Don't look at the scoreboard.

Plan till 20th over: Play normal cricket. After that, play your shots.

Reminders to each other: Be communicative and calculative.

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