Highlights: Mohammad Rizwan made a half-century on the first day of Pakistan’s practice match ahead of the Boxing Day Test to press his case to take back the gloves from Sarfaraz Ahmed.
The 31-year-old, along with Pakistan’s other two half-centuries Saud Shakir (70*) and Salman Ali Agha (52), reached 50 matches before retiring unbeaten. Sarfaraz scored 35 points with over one run per ball, but Shaheen Shah Afridi dismissed Will Pucovski in the first over. Victoria’s practice match against XI was hastily set for the middle of the series as Pakistan wanted more time in the midfield.
Rizwan’s innings could strengthen their case for a victory in the second Test of the series as the tourists look to recover from their 360-run blow in the opener. Pakistan will have to make at least one change with debutant Furram Shahzad ruled out, and may want to make another.
Sarfaraz struggled in the first Test of the series, conceding seven runs in two innings against David Warner, missing a valuable chance. He has been Pakistan’s current wicketkeeper since late last year and was named Player of the Series after hitting three fifties and three hundreds in his return match against New Zealand. He scored his 17, 1, 14* and withdrew from his other Test match for Pakistan, the match against Sri Lanka, due to injury.
Rizwan came off the bench in this match due to concussion and scored his first half-century since being ruled out by Sarfaraz in 2022 due to the dry season. After scoring his hundred against Australia in the second Test of 2022, he pitched 12 innings without a half-century, but reached double figures in nine of those matches. He continues to be a mainstay for Pakistan in his T20I cricket and his ODI cricket, and Babar is one of the few players who was able to come out of his World Cup campaign where Azam’s team underperformed.
Prior to his dismissal, Sarfaraz had not been with the team since 2019. Sarfaraz is five years older than Rizwan and his overall Test record averaged 37.41, slightly worse than Rizwan’s 39.52. Rizwan is also considered to be the better wicketkeeper of the two.
Watch highlights of the first day of the Pakistan practice match below:
🎥 Highlights of Day 1️⃣ of the practice match between Pakistan and Victoria XI at Junction Oval, Melbourne 🏏#AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/0GBbencK0V
– Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) 22. December 2023
