Pakistan recovered from a loss to draw parity in the ongoing three-match series with Ireland with opener Mohammad Rizwan (75*) and Fakhar Zaman (78) stepping up with the bat in Dublin on Sunday. However, Ireland took a shock 1-0 lead in the series with a five-wicket win in the opening match before Pakistan bounced back with a thumping seven-wicket win, chasing down 194 in 16.5 overs as well. However, Rizwan won the player-of-the-match award for his effort and he expressed his admiration for Virat Kohli.
“Virat Kohli is a good player and we learnt a lot from him. I respect him,” Rizwan said. “I don’t look at my numbers, if you look at the average, you are an average player. If you look at the match situation and the conditions then it’s better.”
However, Rizwan also praised Ireland for playing a good knock and gave Pakistan a tough fight as well.
“If you look at the whole match, they (Ireland) played really well. So have to credit them guys. Chasing 194 is not easy as Ireland know the conditions and they gave difficult time early on but we decide to attack and this is why we were successful,” he said.
Meanwhile, Pakistan captain Babar Azam was happy following the positive result as the former champions continued to fine-tune their preparations for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup as well.
