Asia Cup 2022: Muhammad Rizwan dedicates World No. 1 T20I ranking to Pakistan captain Babar Azam

Wicket-keeper Muhammad Rizwan, who has excelled in the Asia Cup 2022, dethroned Pakistan captain Babar Azam to take the No.1 spot in the latest ICC’s T20I batting charts on Wednesday (September 7).

The right-handed batter took to social media to dedicate his achievement to Azam, who had dominated the T20 rankings for over 1000 days.

He wrote on Twitter:

“Alhumdulillah [Thank God]. Sirf Allah se hota hai… Allah k ghair se nahi hota [Everything is from god]. Count this as 1156th day of the reign of Kaptaan @babarazam258. Kaptaan or me alag nahi hain [The captain and I are not different]. Kings remains the king. Hum sab aik hain [We are united].”

He continued:

“Ap sab k sath, mohabbaton or duaon ka shukriya [Thank you for your love and prayers]."

Rizwan has scored 192 runs in the first three games of the ongoing Asia Cup, including a match-winning knock of 71 off 51 against India on Sunday (September 4).

As per the latest ICC rankings, Rizwan has 815 points while Azam has dropped to second place with 794. The Pakistani openers are followed by Aiden Markram (792), Suryakumar Yadav (775), and Dawid Malan (731) in the standings.

"We will look to manage it" - Saqlain Mushtaq on handling Muhammad Rizwan's workload

Pakistan head coach Saqlain Mushtaq has confirmed that the medical team has cleared the Pakistan opener to play the remaining games in the Asia Cup.

The star batter suffered a knee injury in the high-octane Super 4 clash against India. He remains a vital cog for Pakistan for the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia.

Saqlain said, as quoted by ANI:

"These things happen [injuries]. Pakistan is not that far from UAE, if we have such a situation, we can call backup but there's no need as of now. Rizwan's workload is a lot and we will look to manage it. For now, the medical team has given him the green signal."

Pakistan will look to keep their momentum going after registering consecutive wins against Hong Kong and India. They are favorites to beat Afghanistan and Sri Lanka to secure a place in the Asia Cup final on Sunday (September 11).