Mohammad Rizwan, the top-run scorer of the Asia Cup tournament is facing the ire of Pakistani fans for his performance in the last match. The final match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka witnessed Sri Lanka take over Pakistan after losing the toss and batting first. Pakistan let too many slip-ups, eventually causing the game to slip out of their hands.
The first innings saw Shadab Khan dropping two important catches letting Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Hasaranga score important runs for their team. Despite Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah setting the game in their favor by scalping early wickets, Rajapaksa led the total to a fighting 170 with a 71* off 45 score.
And in the second innings, despite Madhushanka bowling a clearly nervous first over with 5 wides, Pakistan couldn’t put a dominant performance as expected. Mohammad Rizwan, the opener scored a half-century, but one too slow to chase a score of 170. His intent is being questioned now that Pakistan has lost the match and the cup.
Rizwan started to change gears after scoring a 50 and surpassing Virat Kohli as the top scorer. But by that 15 overs had already gone and the required run rate stood as high as 18.
Worsening the situation, Rizwan walked off the pitch by delivering the ball straight to a fielder’s hand. This caused the pressure to become untamable on Asif Ali and Khushdil Shah.
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Shoaib Akhtar criticizes Mohammad Rizwan
This combination is not working. Pakistan has to look into a lot of things. Fakhar, Iftikhar, Khushdil all need to be looked into. And Rizwan, 50 off 50 is not going to work anymore. Doesn't benefit Pakistan.
Hats off to Sri Lanka. What a teamFull video: https://t.co/rYk3d01K65
— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) September 11, 2022
Now, former Pakistani cricketer has talked about Rizwan and criticized his game tactics. Shoaib Akhtar questioned Rizwan’s last match in strong words. “I hope that we are not playing the wrong team every time we are out on the field. The question mark gets put on Rizwan because he has been unable to finish matches. He needs support around him. He can’t take 45 balls to score 45 runs, and that is going to be a problem,” Akhtar said.
Moreover, he also criticized the bowling of Pakistan putting forth their shortcomings. “Pakistan bowling are leaking too many runs. Babar Azam has not scored runs throughout the tournament,” he said.
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“But I’ll tell you right now what a great nation Sri Lanka are. Look what they have been through over the last 6 months, but they managed to come out here and show the world that they are the best team in the world in the tournament,” Shoaib Akhtar said.
