Pakistan’s all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz revealed he had clarity of mind to attack from the get-go against India at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday to lead his team to a five-wicket win. Nawaz scored a blistering knock of 42 runs off just 20 balls to help Pakistan keep the required run rate in check.
The left-hander added 73 runs off just 41 balls with Mohammad Rizwan and it was definitely the turning point of the game. The southpaw was able to hit the ground running and played at the top of his game after he was promoted in the batting order to the number four position.
Furthermore, Nawaz also scalped the big wicket of Suryakumar Yadav and conceded only 25 runs in his quota of four overs. Thus, he was awarded the Player of the Match for his all-around performance.
Mohammad Nawaz said in the post-match presentation, “Want to keep things simple. Basic things like line and length. The effort is to turn one or two deliveries to put doubt in the batter’s mind. Legspinners were in operation and there was one short boundary as well. Needed around 10 rpo at that time. I had clarity about going for it if it was in my area. Sometimes in a high-pressure situation when you’re looking to go hard, you tend to lose shape.”
On the other hand, Mohammad Rizwan scored 71 runs off just 51 balls and once again played a key role in the success of the team. Rizwan revealed that they had the confidence to chase down the score as they have power-hitters in their squad.
Rizwan said after the game, “The whole world is watching this match. This game is as valuable as a final. Every player will try to go give his 100%. The plan, as always, was to score against the new ball with one of us (himself and Babar Azam) batting long. I tried to stay till the end. We know our strengths, we have depth in our batting, we have power-hitters who are capable of hitting around 45 runs off the last four overs. So we didn’t panic.”
Pakistan will be delighted with their batting performance and a lot of credit goes to Mohammad Rizwan for playing fine knocks in the run chase.
Pakistan will next face Afghanistan on Wednesday at Sharjah.
