Indian umpire Anil Choudhary expressed his frustration at Mohammad Rizwan for his habit of excessive appealing. Rizwan, who recently scored 171* during the 1st Test between Pakistan and Bangladesh, is one of the team’s most experienced batters. However, his exaggerated and over-enthusiastic style of appeal has not gone down well with Anil. The Indian umpire described him who appeals almost against everything and keeps on jumping like a pigeon. Anil recalled his experience of umpiring an Asia Cup game which featured Rizwan as Pakistan’s wicketkeeper-batter.
“He appeals a lot. I even told my fellow umpire to stay aware. Har ball pe chillata hai (He keeps shouting on every ball). Isn’t he the one who puts something like a lipstick? He keeps jumping like a pigeon. See, fact is a good umpire knows who is a good keeper. If the umpire is good, these keepers are losers,” he said on the 2sloggers podcast.
“People make fun of such antics”
“Aur itna technology aa gaya hai, kyun apna beizatti karwa rahein ho? Ulta seedha nikla jayega, toh log aap hi ka mazak udayenge (When technology has evolved so much, why do you have to make yourself look bad? People tend to make fun of such things),” he added.
In Pakistan’s first innings of the 1st Test match, Rizwan turned Pakistan’s rescue-man alongside Saud Shakeel as he scored 11 boundaries and three sixes in his scintillating knock from just 239 deliveries. Despite Rizwan being stranded on the score of 171 as he had a good chance to score his first-ever double hundred, the wicketkeeper-batter created a plethora of records.
Mohammad Rizwan’s scintillating century
His score of 171* is the second-highest unbeaten score by a Pakistani wicketkeeper in Test matches. He became the third glovesman of his nation to score a Test 150, joining the likes of Rashid Latif and Kamran Akmal. Alongside racking up records at international level, Rizwan also continued his personal streak of remaining unbeaten after scoring a Test hundred.
He has never been got out after scoring all the three Test hundreds so far, which includes 104* vs Australia in Karachi in 2022, 115* vs South Africa in 2021 and now 171* vs Bangladesh in the Rawalpindi Test.