Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan is a part of the squad for the upcoming ODI series against Bangladesh; however, ahead of the upcoming contest, the entire discourse has been dominated by the reports of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) fining the players for poor show in the T20 World Cup, where the Green Shirts failed to make it to the semi-finals. Rizwan, who was not part of the World Cup squad, was asked to comment on the same, and it was then that he stated he could only give a comment once the PCB came out in the open and officially announced the penalty.
According to a report on ESPNCricinfo, the PCB penalised all squad members, imposing a fine of PKR 5 million (approx. USD 18,000). This was imposed immediately following Pakistan’s poor performance against India in the group stage, where the Salman Ali Agha-led side went down by 61 runs at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo.
However, the PCB had told the players that the fines might be waived if they reached the semi-finals. However, that wasn’t to be after the side failed to defeat Sri Lanka by 65 runs in Pallekele. The Cricinfo report confirmed that the fines were introduced solely due to poor field performances.
“Several people have asked me about this, but nothing official has come out yet. The PCB are yet to come out in the open and give a confirmation regarding this. If there is a fine or penalty of 50 lakh, it should be announced officially. Right now, these are just media reports and nothing else. I can only comment when it is announced officially,” Rizwan told reporters.
Earlier, Rizwan had also defended Pakistan’s early exit from the T20 World Cup, saying the side had just crashed out on net run rate and that it was not a case of the Green Shirts giving a poor performance.
“Pakistan went out of the event on net run rate, not because of losing outright,” he said.
‘Don’t watch India’s matches’
When asked to comment on India’s seven-run win over England in the T20 World Cup semi-final at the Wankhede Stadium, Rizwan said he doesn’t watch matches featuring the Men in Blue.
“Sorry, I don’t watch their matches,” said Rizwan.
The Pakistan selectors recently dropped Babar Azam and Saim Ayub from the ODI squad for the series against Bangladesh. The decision came in the wake of poor performances in the World Cup, where both players had below-par showings.
The Pakistan squad landed in Dhaka on Sunday morning for the upcoming ODI series, which is slated to begin on Wednesday, March 11.
