‘Won’t be wrong if I say our Virat Kohli or our Pujara’ – Mohammad Rizwan on his bond with Indian cricketers

Pakistan wicketkeeper Mohammad Rizwan has said that he considers Indian cricket stalwarts, Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara as family. Rizwan played once against Kohli during the 20-20 World Cup 2021 in the UAE. Currently, he is playing with Pujara in the County Championship for the Sussex team. They came into the headlines after stitching a massive partnership in the competition.

Rizwan recently revealed how his Indian counterpart shared tips on how to bat long in Test cricket or First Class Cricket. Now in another interaction, he has said that Kohli and Pujara are like his brothers and it won’t be wrong to call them ‘our Kohli’ or ‘our Pujara’.  He also said that he didn’t felt any strange feeling while playing with Pujara. “If I say ‘our Virat Kohli’, ‘our Pujara’, ‘our Smith’ or ‘our Root’, I will not be wrong because we all are one family,” Rizwan said as per the official website of World Cricket Governing Council.

“Believe me; I haven’t felt strange while playing with Pujara. I even joked around him and also teased him a lot,” the 29-year-old added.

Further on, the right-hander rated the top three batters in the longest format in terms of concentration level. He termed former Pakistan skipper Younis Khan as the number one, Pujara as the second, and Fawad Alam as the third.

“In my life, the player with the highest levels of concentration and focus I have seen is Younis Bhai.” He rated Younis No.1 and then Pujara, followed by Fawad Alam at number three.

Currently, Rizwan is the preferred keeper in all formats for his national team. Talking about Pujara, he has hit four hundreds in the County season and is making a strong case for his comeback in the Indian team. Early this year, he was dropped on the back of some poor performances. The team will be playing one-off Test match against in England in July and Pujara might be in consideration given his form