Watch: Rizwan opens up on his battle with Suryakumar Yadav for No.1 T20I ranking: 'Jis tarah se woh khelte hain...'
The past two months has witnessed a battle between Mohammad Rizwan and Suryakumar Yadav for the top spot in the ICC T20I rankings. The Pakistan opener stands atop, followed by Suryakumar, with the difference in tally being just 16 points.
The past two months has witnessed a battle between Mohammad Rizwan and Suryakumar Yadav for the top spot in the ICC T20I rankings. The Pakistan opener surpassed his opening partner and team captain Babar Azam to become the No.1 T20I batter earlier last month with Suryakumar at No.4. But a array of incredible knocks in the home series against Australia and South Africa saw the India star reduce the gap, both in terms of spots and rating tally to now stand inches away from dethroning the Pakistan opener. On Thursday, Rizwan opened up on his battle with Suryakumar for the No.1 spot.
Rizwan's comment came moments after his unbeaten 78 helped Pakistan beat Bangladesh in their tri-series opener in Christchurch. The right-handed batter hailed the India batter for his prowess but opined that critics should look at them differently given that Rizwan is an opener and the other is a middle-order batter.
“Good player hain Suryakumar Yadav. Jis tarah se woh khelte hain, mujhe bohot pasand he. Magar jaha tak cheezen he and different tarike se dekha jae kyunki middle order and top order mukhtalif cheezen hain. Kabhi No.1 ke liye socha nahi hain jo demand he Pakistan ki woh pura karne ki koshish kar raha hu. No.1 or Man of the Match, aise kuch cheeze hain jo negative main le jati hain. Par main sochta nehi hu,” he said.
“Ha kabhi pitches aisa milta hain ki 60 balls pe 40 karna padta he but wohi Pakistan ka demand tha. Pichle saal Bangladesh series main bhi wohi tha, UAE me chale jae toh 145 banana mushkil he,” he added.
Suryakumar did have the opportunity to topple Rizwan and claim the No.1 spot, but was dismissed for just eight runs in the final T20I match of the series against South Africa. Although he managed to reduce the gap to just 16 points, Rizwan now has the chance to consolidate his spot atop in the tri-series before the T20 World Cup kicks off.
