Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan is known for his antics on the field. A busy player on the crease, Rizwan has previously admitted that he sometimes fakes his cramps. He did it after pulling off the highest-ever World Cup run chase. On November 11, Rizwan’s antics were on display again. He cramped during the run chase against England. On the delivery he got out, he danced down the track and missed the ball completely. As he got bowled, he lay down on the ground holding his right leg.
England players celebrated the wicket as Rizwan lay on the ground. Pakistan’s physiotherapist rushed to Rizwan’s aid as well. In the end, he got up and left the field without any help.
He struggled to rotate the strike with ease or score boundaries in the run chase. He scored 36 runs from 51 balls and hit just a couple of boundaries. His strike rate was 70.59.
Earlier, he had shared a 51-run partnership with skipper Babar Azam after David Willey got rid of both openers Abdullah Shafique and Fakhar Zaman with the new ball. Rizwan was dismissed in the 23rd over of the run chase.
In a must-win game where the Babar-led side had to achieve unrealistic goals to reach the semi-final, Pakistan suffered a major setback when Jos Buttler won the toss and opted to bat first.
Half-centuries from Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, and Ben Stokes followed by a few cameos helped England post 337/9.
In reply, only Agha Salman managed to score a half-century. At one point Pakistan lost wickets in quick succession and feared getting all out below 180 which would mean a slip to sixth position on the points table. But tailenders Mohammad Wasim Jr. and Haris Rauf with their cameos ensured that Pakistan post 244 before getting bowled from 43.3 overs.
Rizwan ended the tournament as Pakistan’s highest run-scorer. He is 14th on the list of highest run-scorers with 359 runs from seven innings at an average of 71.80 including a century.
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