#Twitter Reactions #Pakistan vs New Zealand 2023

‘Aate hi kaam shuru kar diye’- Fans react as Mohammad Rizwan gets dropped after Shahid Afridi becomes chief selector

Babar Azam won the toss and opted to bat first. After the toss, he revealed that Former captain Sarfaraz Ahmed replaces Rizwan.

author-image
Rohit Kumar
Dec 26, 2022 07:23 IST
New Update
Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan (Source - Twitter)

Shahid Afridi and Mohammad Rizwan (Source - Twitter)

Mohammad Rizwan is considered to be among the core members of the Pakistan cricket team. However, his performance in Test cricket in recent times has not been up to the mark. Recently, former player Shahid Afridi was made the interim chief selector by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Rizwan, ahead of the home Test series against New Zealand, was dropped from the team, making way for veteran wicketkeeper-batter Sarfaraz Ahmed.

The 2-match Test series between Pakistan and New Zealand started on Monday. Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and opted to bat first. After the toss, he revealed that former captain Sarfaraz, who last played a Test against South Africa in January 2019, replaced Rizwan in the line-up, while Hamza was included in what is only his second Test appearance, with the first coming back in 2018 against Australia.

Mohammad Rizwan bad run in Test cricket

The record of 30-year-old Mohammad Rizwan is excellent in T20, but he has not been able to perform as expected in Tests. Recently, Pakistan got a crushing defeat by 0-3 in the 3-match Test series at home from England. Rizwan scored 29, 46, 10, 30, 19, and 7 in the series. That is, he could not score a half-century in any of the 6 innings. He has so far scored 1373 runs in 27 Tests at an average of 38. Has scored 2 centuries and 7 half-centuries. His Unbeaten knock of 115 is the best performance.

After the change in Pakistan Cricket Board, Sarfaraz Ahmed got a chance to play a Test after almost 4 years. He played his last Test against South Africa in January 2019. A day before the match, Captain Babar Azam had said that he would make the playing XI only after talking to Shahid Afridi. Sarfaraz, 35, has so far scored 2657 runs in 49 Tests at an average of 36. Has scored 3 centuries and 18 half-centuries. 112 runs is his best performance.

Former captain Sarfaraz's first-class record is also good. He has scored 8716 runs in 169 matches at an average of 40. Has scored 13 centuries and 59 half-centuries. Means scored more than 50 runs 72 times. His best score is 213 not out.

Here's how fans reacted:

#Pakistan #New Zealand #PAK vs NZ