Mohammad Rizwan and Irfan Khan Niazi have been ruled out of the remainder of Pakistan’s T20I series against New Zealand. The PCB, in a statement, said they had received radiology reports for the pair and decided to pull them out of the series.
Rizwan is thought to have pulled a hamstring while batting in the third T20I. He received extensive on-field attention before going off retired hurt. The PCB has downplayed the extent of his injury, saying he is expected to be out for no more than a week to ten days, and that the injury does not imperil any future tours as things stand. While there was no sign of discomfort for Niazi during that game, he is also believed to have picked up a hamstring niggle, resulting in the PCB pulling him out of the series.
The pair’s absences follow Azam Khan’s unavailability for the tour with injury, though an official statement said he only needed 10 days of rest, suggesting there is no long-term availability issue. While Haseebullah, who made his sole international appearance in a T20 against New Zealand earlier this year, was called up as cover for Azam, no further replacements have been announced.
Pakistan do have wicketkeeping options in Rizwan’s absence. While Haseebullah has not featured yet, he is a wicketkeeper-batter. Usman Khan also kept wicket for two games for the Multan Sultans earlier this year in the PSL.
The injuries come at an inopportune time for Pakistan with the series on the line in Lahore. New Zealand bounced back from a crushing defeat in the second T20I with a dominant performance to level the series in Pindi, with the final two games in Lahore.
New Zealand’s win over Pakistan in the third T20I has raised familiar questions around Pakistan’s approach to T20 cricket, with Babar Azam defending Pakistan’s batting performance and rejecting suggestion that a middle-overs slowdown played a part in his side’s defeat. This, even as Shadab Khan stressed that T20s needed “impactful innings” – something Pakistan lacked on the day.
Pakistan posted 178 on what Babar acknowledged at the toss was an excellent pitch for batting, but New Zealand demonstrated what was possible on such a surface, cantering to a seven-wicket win with ten balls to spare thanks to an unbeaten 87 off 42 balls from Mark Chapman.
“We did well with the bat,” Babar said at the post-match presentation. “I don’t think it [the slowdown] made much of a difference because we had caught up in the end. You can say we were ten runs short. Unfortunately, we had a bit of a setback with [Mohammad] Rizwan’s injury because it wasn’t easy for new batters. But Shadab recovered well and had an outstanding partnership with Irfan [Khan]. In Pindi, 180-190 is a par score.”
The passage of play in question came immediately after the powerplay, not for the first time.While Saim Ayub got Pakistan off to a fast start with a 22-ball 32, he was dismissed just after the powerplay, which ended with Pakistan scoring 54. That brought Babar and Rizwan together, a pair whose consistency in accumulating runs has never been in question, even if the intent has.
Pakistan managed just 51 runs in the next seven overs as New Zealand applied the brakes. Collectively, Babar and Rizwan scored 59 runs in 50 balls. Babar was dismissed in the 11th over. Rizwan retired hurt with a hamstring injury in the 13th.
Shadab and Irfan’s fireworks helped Pakistan score 75 in the last seven as they got close to the score Babar said Pakistan were originally targeting.
However, when the Rawalpindi pitch has been at its best of late, 180-190 hasn’t truly been a par score. The six completed T20Is at the venue over the years (all since 2020) have all been won by the chasing side, including last year when Pakistan posted 193, only for Chapman, last night’s hero too, to thwart them with an unbeaten 57-ball 104. And in the PSL, of the ten times the side batting first has won in Rawalpindi, only twice did they post a lower score than Pakistan’s 178 last night.
