From Being a Bench Warmer to the Best Batsman: The Rise of a Superstar

From Being a Bench Warmer to the Best Batsman: The Rise of a Superstar

From being a bench warmer and hardly having a place in the national side to becoming the world’s best batsman in the shortest format of the game, Muhammad Rizwan, the wicket keeper batsman from Pakistan has had an incredible rise in just a short period of time.

While he might be known for his humbleness and his big smile for others off the field, Rizwan is naturally aggressive in his batting on the field, also possessing the additional power hitting and match finishing abilities.

Making his International debut in 2015, Muhammad Rizwan averaged 60 in eight innings against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Zimbabwe but struggled against the top sides and was a technically limited batter and hardly had a place in the playing XI as Sarfaraz Ahmed was the first choice wicket keeper in the side.

To make matters worse for Rizwan, Sarfaraz was not only the man with the gloves but also the captain for Pakistan across all three formats, which made getting game time a highly unlikely proposition for Muhammad Rizwan. However, once Sarfaraz Ahmed got replaced as the captain of the national side after his underperformance in recent years, ahead of Pakistan’s tour of Australia in 2019, Rizwan then became the first choice wicket keeper batsman of the side and an automatic choice in the playing XI.

Following his return, he played the World Test Championship series in Australia, England, and New Zealand and seemed to be a completely different cricketer than before as instead of being nervous and shaky, Rizwan looked much more calm and composed on the field, being aware of both his strengths and weaknesses.

While he flourished in the red-ball format of the game, it was the shortest format of the game (T20Is), where he really made a mark and had an incredible rise, making himself noticed globally.

Being backed by the Head Coach Misbah Ul Haq and promoted to open the batting alongside captain Babar Azam in T20Is, Muhammad Rizwan quickly made a mark at this position with his consistent performances. From being dropped by his local franchise Karachi Kings in the PSL, to being appointed the captain of another PSL franchise Multan Sultans in just a short time span and being called the “little master” of the shortest format, Rizwan had a massive turn around in the T20 format which could also be seen in his T20I batsman rankings as he was ranked 306th in November 2020, his lowest T20I batting rank, before the ascent began.

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Rizwan seemed to be unstoppable and produced consistent performances even on surfaces where the other batters seemed to struggle, with his knock of 89 runs in New Zealand being a prime example of that. He has been in exceptional form in the last few years. Since the start of 2020, he’s scored more runs than any other batter in T20Is (1,674) at 69.75 and also has the most fifty-plus scores (16).

He had a brilliant last year with the bat as he dominated T20 cricket, and had a record-breaking year with many achievements including smashing an unbeaten 104 against South Africa, becoming only the second player from Pakistan to get to the three-figure-mark in all three formats of international cricket.  He was named the ICC T20I cricketer of the year in 2021 whereas in April this year, he was named the Leading T20 Cricketer in the 2022 Wisden Almanack.

Rizwan has also been in prolific form in the ongoing Asia Cup, scoring 43 & 71 against India, and 78* against Hong Kong. He is currently the second-highest run scorer in the tournament, just behind Virat Kohli (276) with 212 runs in 4 games and with 2 more games to go, he is expected to finish as the leading run scorer of the tournament.

Muhammad Rizwan on Wednesday rise to the top of the T20I batsman rankings, replacing Babar Azam, who had occupied the spot for a record 1,155 days before his opening partner replaced him. It is only the third time a Pakistani batter has grabbed the top spot in the rankings as Rizwan joins Babar and former Test skipper Misbah-ul-Haq who had climbed to No.1 back in 2008.  Rizwan has also now moved to 18th in the all-time ICC T20I batting charts, with a career-best rating of 815. Among Pakistan batters, only Babar and Fakhar Zaman have a better career rating.

Below are the current latest T20I batting rankings updated on 7th September 2022: