IND vs PAK: Mohammad Rizwan Discusses His Competition With Suryakumar Yadav As Top T20I Batter

Mohammad Rizwan and Suryakumar Yadav have been competing for the top place in the ICC T20I rankings for the previous two months. A month ago, the Pakistan opener overcame his opening partner and team captain, Babar Azam, to overtake Suryakumar as the No. 1 T20I batter.

But the India star narrowed the deficit in terms of places and rating tally to currently stand inches away from unseating the Pakistan opener in the home series against Australia and South Africa. Rizwan discussed his competition with Suryakumar for the top slot on Thursday. 

Mohammad Rizwan made his statement shortly after his unbeaten 78 helped Pakistan defeat Bangladesh in the opening game of the tri-series in Christchurch.

Critics Should Not Compare Suryakumar Yadav With Me: Mohammad Rizwan

The right-handed batsman praised the Indian batter for his skill but said that since Rizwan is an opener and the other is a middle-order batsman, critics should see them differently. 

“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. 

Despite having the chance to unseat Rizwan and take over as No. 1, Suryakumar was only able to score eight runs in the last T20I of the series against South Africa. Rizwan now has the possibility to secure his position atop the tri-series before the T20 World Cup begins, despite the fact that he was only able to close the deficit to 16 points. 

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