T20 World Cup 2021: "The guy is worthy of praise" - Aakash Chopra lauds Mohammad Rizwan's 'bold' batting for Pakistan
Aakash Chopra has pointed out that Mohammad Rizwan deserves immense praise for his bold batting approach during Pakistan's T20 World Cup 2021 semi-final loss against Australia.
Rizwan smashed 67 runs off 52 deliveries to help set a challenging 177-run target for the Aaron Finch-led side in the second semi-final. However, the Kangaroos chased down the target with an over to spare to knock Pakistan out of the tournament.
While reflecting on Pakistan's batting performance in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra lauded the efforts of Rizwan and Babar Azam. He said:
"When Australia won the toss and opted to field, Babar came to bat. How well he was batting, the timing at the start - it was just surreal. There was Rizwan with him, who was struggling a little at the start, but the guy is worthy of praise."
The cricketer-turned-commentator added that Rizwan's bold approach belied his relative inexperience on the big stage. Aakash Chopra elaborated:
"The boldness with which he [Rizwan] plays, he has not played too many knockout matches in his life, but the way he batted, it was worth watching. It was enjoyable to watch him bat and Babar as well, although he did slow down a little. I was expecting that his wagon will run a little faster."
This is unreal. No wonder Matthew Hayden called him a warrior. Huge respect for Mohammad Rizwan who spent two nights before the #T20WorldCup semi-final in ICU - then top-scored with 67!
cricket.com.au/news/mohammad-… https://t.co/2ztPUsuuWF
Rizwan's 67-run knock was studded with three fours and four maximums. He strung together a 71-run opening wicket partnership with Azam to give Pakistan an excellent start in the crunch encounter.
"Cometh the hour, cometh the man" - Aakash Chopra on Fakhar Zaman's knock
Aakash Chopra highlighted that Fakhar Zaman almost did an encore of his match-winning century in the 2017 Champions Trophy final against India. He observed:
"After that comes Fakhar Zaman, who scores 17 runs off the first 17 balls. The game was stuck a little but then cometh the hour, cometh the man. He is the man for knockouts, our 2017 wounds are still fresh."
Fakhar Zaman has played 4 semi-finals and finals in international cricket. Batting average 105.66, strike rate 130.99. Big match player!
The 44-year-old was particularly appreciative of the massive sixes the southpaw hit off Mitchell Starc's bowling. Aakash Chopra stated:
"He made runs here as well and the batting at the end was fantastic. What amazing sixes he hit, who hits sixes like that against Mitchell Starc but he did that. He took the team to 176, that's a lot of runs, to be very honest."
Zaman's unbeaten 55 came off just 32 deliveries and he hit as many fours and sixes as Rizwan. However, the knock went in vain as Pakistan's hopes of winning their second T20 World Cup were dashed.