Suryakumar Yadav dethroned Mohammad Rizwan to become the new no 1 ranked player in the T20I batters rankings on Wednesday. The top spot was ruled by Pakistan captain Babar Azam and opener Mohammad Rizwan since October 2018. SKY now sits on top of the rankings with both Babar and Rizwan having a tough time in the 20-20 World Cup 2022. Commenting on the rankings update Sikander Bakht was critical of Rizwan during a television debate following his poor outings.
During a programme on Pakistan’s GEO Super, the anchor talked about Suryakumar Yadav’s rise to the no.1 spot in the T20I batting rankings, to which Sikander made a rather straightforward remark about Rizwan, who was previously at the top position.
“Vo (Suryakumar Yadav) no.1 hai duniya me. Unka strike rate 177.20 hai. Jo hamaara player tha, jo number 1 tha, aur jisne hamein Asia Cup harwaaya, uska strike rate hai 127. Rizwan ka. Quality of players ki main baat kar raha hu. (Suryakumar Yadav is no.1, his strike rate is 177.20. Our player who was no.1, who also lost us the Asia Cup, had a strike rate of 127. He’s Rizwan. I’m just talking about the quality of players),” Sikander said.
To this, former Pakistan wicketkeeper Moin Khan, who was also sitting in the expert panel, was unhappy with Sikander’s ‘choice of words’.
No one deliberately wants to lose: Moin Khan
“Ek word ki toh correction karein, koi jaan-boojh ke nahi harwaata. Aadmi try karta hai. Aap khud cricketer hain. Harwaaya nahi hai, ye lafz sahi nahi hai aapka. (You should correct your word, no one deliberately wants to lose. Players try, you have been a cricketer yourself. He didn’t make us lose, the word is not correct),” said Moin.
Sikander, then, clarified his remark. “Jab chase shuru kiya, uss waqt average (run rate) 8 ki thi. Unhone 16 over khele, toh 18 ka average karke chale gaye. (When he started the chase, our required run rate was 8. When he was dismissed in the 16th over, it had towered up to 18rpo),” said the former Pakistan cricketer.
Rizwan has failed to fire in the four matches played in the 20-20 World Cup so far. He has just one good score of 49 to show for himself which came during the game against the Netherlands. On the other hand, Suryakumar Yadav has struck two half-centuries in the tournament so far.
