Inzamam-ul-Haq takes an indirect dig at Rizwan for his sluggish approach

Inzamam-ul-Haq took a jibe at Mohd. Rizwan | PC: Twitter

Pakistan's wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan finished his Asia Cup 2022 campaign as the leading run-scorer, eclipsing India's batting veteran Virat Kohli, who brought up his 71st international century against Afghanistan in India's final Super-4 game. 

Rizwan, who was 50 runs short of Kohli's tally of 276 runs, scored 55 runs off 49 balls against Sri Lanka in the final of the recently concluded continental tournament and finished the competition with 281 runs in five matches. 

However, his knock did no good for the Men in Green as Pakistan bundled out for 147 runs against Sri Lanka and lost the match by 23 runs.

Rizwan's sluggish approach in T20s invites criticism

Rizwan might have ended the Asia Cup 2022 as the top-scorer for Pakistan, but his over-cautious and sluggish batting approach received flak from fans and former cricketers.  

After Gautam Gambhir and fast bowling great Wasim Akram, the former captain of Pakistan Inzamam-ul-Haq has now launched an indirect attack on the wicketkeeper-batter for his sedate knock against the Lankan lads.

Inzamam-ul-Haq shared a video on his YouTube channel where he spoke at length on the batting approach of Pakistan against Sri Lanka: 

"Hasaranga scored 31 off 21 balls and Rajapaksa scored 71 off 45 balls and those two were incredible knocks. The strike rate at which they scored runs and the situation in which the runs were aggregated was brilliant."

"Had the 70 runs come at a slower rate, the total of Sri Lanka would only have been around 140, which Pakistan would have chased down. So, that 70 runs would have been of no use."  

Their flaws were on display: Inzamam-ul-Haq

Apart from Rizwan, Pakistan captain Babar Azam has also been subjected to heavy criticism from all corners for his underwhelming performance in the Asia Cup 2022, where he managed to score just 68 runs in six innings. 

The Pakistan batting legend further dissected the Pakistan team and pointed out the mistakes they committed against the Asia Cup 2022 champions, stating they could not capitalize on the pressure built by their fast bowlers Naseem Shah and Haris Rauf. 

"All of Sri Lanka's pacers are newcomers, none of them are experienced, but they did their homework well for the finals. Pakistan played well in the tournament, but not very well."

"Many of their flaws were on display. They could not capitalize on the pressure, which helped them reduce Sri Lanka to 58-5 at one stage of the game." 

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