Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan has opined that he does not plan anything while batting with the country's new batting sensation Saud Shakeel.
Rizwan and Saud were at their best during Pakistan's opening game of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 against the Netherlands in Hyderabad. Both scored 68 respectively and were instrumental after Pakistan were 38/3 after being put into bat first.
Ultimately, their 120-run stand took Pakistan's total to 286 and the Men in Green restricted the Dutch to 205.
Rizwan has had some great partnerships with Pakistan skipper Babar Azam and has great chemistry too. Rizwan has often said that they both plan according to game situations but while batting with Saud Shakeel, he doesn't. Rizwan thinks if the left-hander continues batting like this, he will be the next superstar.
"If Saud maintains the hard work he's doing, then Pakistan will have found themselves another superstar," Rizwan told ESPNCricinfo.
"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," he added.
"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)."
Rizwan occupies a crucial batting position, No. 4, a spot that Pakistan had struggled to solidify leading up to the World Cup. After just one match, it appears that this position may now be considered a fixed one. While Rizwan's T20 batting can occasionally leave his close followers feeling uneasy, his approach in ODIs exudes a sense of composure and assurance within the dressing room.
This composure, he believes, has been cultivated through a deep understanding of his game, which has been honed through specialized training tailored to specific playing conditions. This, in turn, enables him to quickly assess the prevailing conditions on the field.
"Cricket is condition specific. Sometimes within a match itself, conditions change," he explained. "Sometimes it starts off as a flat pitch, then starts seaming [under lights]. Sometimes it takes turn. Prior to coming here, I'd phoned Saeed Anwar. He spoke of the same thing, how it's important to read conditions well.
"It's not like pitches are always flat in India, yes, it's good for batting but there is some help for spin and seamers. If you watched England versus Bangladesh, it seamed and swung a great deal. You saw today, how Haris Rauf was breathing fire and hitting some late seam movement. So we have to train specific to conditions."
Rizwan concluded by saying that Pakistan are not at their best in the fielding department.
"Yes, one challenge, one box we haven't ticked. Fielding," he said. "It's gotten better, today we were very good, but I feel we need to go that level. If you have to become champions, we have to do champion things. We have to still improve further."
