Pakistan cricketer Ahmed Shehzad has openly criticised Mohammad Rizwan, accusing him of using religion to cover up poor performances on the cricket field.
Former Pakistan cricketer Ahmed Shehzad made fun and took a sly dig at star batter Mohammad Rizwan after Babar Azam and Co’s lacklustre performance in the recently concluded 2024 T20 World Cup. Recently, Pakistan’s wicketkeeper batter talked to reporters about Pakistan’s poor showing at the major ICC tournament. However, at a press conference, the 32-year-old cricketer expressed his religious views, which Shahzad found insulting and unpleasant.
Rizwan highlighted his faith in a video that has gone viral on social media, claiming that every Muslim is a brand ambassador for Islam everywhere they go. Ahmed Shehzad, who recently expressed disappointment with the performance of the Pakistani team, criticised the players for making use of their convictions about religion as an excuse for their lacklustre play.
“We’re brand ambassadors of Islam”: Rizwan pic.twitter.com/FKRUSeSanO
— Arfa Feroz Zake (@ArfaSays_) July 2, 2024
“It is really disappointing that some players are hiding their poor performance in the World Cup by holding unnecessary press conferences and playing the religion card. Where does religion go when they lie about their fitness and when they admit they were acting on the field? Does religion teach you to deceive others and lie in the field?,” Ahmed Shahzad wrote on X.
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In addition to this, the former Pakistani batting legend did not mince words and clearly pointed out that the players are paid to perform, not to be attached to some group. The Lahore-born star says that players such as Rizwan were unable to be fully responsible for their own performances. This audacious claim sparked quite a bit of discussion among cricket fans, especially on social media.
“You are paid to perform on the field and you join the grouping in the team instead. Religion teaches us to fulfill our responsibility with full determination and not to lie about our suffering,” he added further.
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The Green Army lost their opening matches of the tournament against the United States and fell short by just six runs against eventual champions India, and as a result, they suffered elimination from the group stage and failed to further make their way to the Super Eight Fixture of the 2024 T20 World Cup. Notably, the USA was able to progress further alongside Rohit Sharma led Indian team in the next stage. The batters fell short of expectations and struggled to unlock their chains on the challenging USA pitches.
Meanwhile, this was a dismal tournament for the Pakistan batter Mohammad Rizwan personally, too, as the opening batter just managed just 110 runs in four innings with a strike rate of 90.90 and an average of 36.66, featuring one fifty against Canada.
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