Mohammad Rizwan makes a big comment on playing against India

Mohammad Rizwan has been an important part of the Pakistan team in recent times across all formats. In a recent media interaction, Rizwan has spoken about the desire of the players from India and Pakistan to play against each other. But as the situation stands the two teams are unable to play bilateral series owing to state-level affairs and the same was stated by Rizwan.

Notably, India and Pakistan have not been a part of a bilateral series since January 2013. It was the tour in which Pakistan visited India to play 2 T20Is and 3 ODIs. The last time the two teams met in a bilateral series in the longest format was in the 2007-08 season.  However there have been multiple efforts for the organization of a bilateral series between the two, and it has not yielded the desired results.

Meanwhile, the two teams often meet in international events like World Cups, T20 World Cups, and Asia Cup. The last time the two teams played against each other was in the 2021 T20 World Cup. The Pakistan team under Babar Azam defeated India to record their first-ever win against their arch-rivals in a World Cup match.

In a conversation with the media ahead of the West Indies series, Rizwan said – “The cricketers from Pakistan and India want to play against each other, but the state-level affairs are not in the control of players.”

In the same interaction, Rizwan heaped praises on the Indian batter Cheteswar Pujara. He stated that he wishes to have the focus and concentration levels of Pujara.

Notably, Pujara and Rizwan shared the same dressing room recently while playing for Sussex in the County Championship. While Pujara was playing at his best in the tournament, Rizwan also found a good rhythm with the bat. The duo stitched a great partnership for the team in one of the matches.

Speaking about Pujara, Rizwan said- “I had discussions with Pujara regarding cricket and learned a lot of things from him. We are no different as players, we are one cricketing family. Pujara is a very nice guy. I really admire his concentration and focus. I believe Younis Khan, Cheteswar Pujara, and Fawad Alam are three players I rate very highly in this regard.”