Mohammad Rizwan is truly a quirky character. After his antics on the field in the World Cup clash with Sri Lanka, that saw him cramping repeatedly, set social abuzz, his press conference was truly a charm. The Pakistan wicket-keeper batter interacted with the media after guiding his team to a morale-boosting victory on Tuesday, scoring an unbeaten 131 that took his team across the line. While Rizwan answered the questions posed to him in the media box with complete honesty, the candid manner in which he interacted with journalists from all corners of the globe, was refreshing.
When a journalist from Pakistan asked a question via virtual interaction, Rizwan asked, "Haan bhai, haa, awaaz aara hain...?" He then looked at the crowd and said, "Bahut door sein aate hain. Time lag jayega aawaz sunne ke liye (It's coming from far, so it would take sound some time to travel."
His quirky behaviour in the media interaction had the floor in splits.
Since the Pakistan team's arrival in India, the players have been in Hyderabad. As they gear up for the flight to Ahmedabad, a journalist asked Rizwan if he had the opportunity to see the Charminar. The wicket-keeper batter responded saying it hasn't yet been possible but the players did get to see the Nizam's mahal.
"Charminar to nahi gye, Hamne, sirf Nizam saab ka mahal dekha!," he said.
Rizwan continued to interact with the reporters in the most humble fashion, saying "Sawaal ka jawaab bhool gaye toh bata dijiyega. Chaar sawaal ho gaye mere khayaal se."
When asked about the tricky chase, Rizwan said that he asked his partner Abdullah Shafique to not look at the board.
"I told Abdullah not to look at the board. We kept following our plan, because there was a separate plan till 20 over, there was a separate plan till 30 and then there was a separate plan till 40 over. This is what we planned. It is this communication and calculation (that helped us)," he said, explaining how Pakistan reached the target.