Twitter reacts to magician Mohammad Rizwan channeling inner MS Dhoni twice in two overs

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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The three Tests between England and Pakistan saw Mohammad Rizwan transform from a ‘good’ keeper to a ‘very good’ keeper and today, the 28-year-old showed signs that he has it in him to become a ‘great’ keeper. Some outrageous, Dhoni’esque glovework from Rizwan crippled England today at Old Trafford.

It seems that with every passing game, Mohammad Rizwan is on a mission to establish himself as the best glovesman in the entire world. During the Test series, apart from enhancing his reputation by a manifold, Rizwan put Jos Buttler to shame with his work behind the stumps and today, in coloured clothing, the Peshawar-born keeper once again showcased mad range with his gloves to cripple the Eoin Morgan-led English side. 

It was Rizwan’s concentration that set him apart in the Test series, but today at Old Trafford, the 28-year-old showed that there was more to his keeping than just discipline - Rizwan, today, showed that there was an MS Dhoni’esque swagger about his glovework. 

With England cruising at 120/4 in the 15th over, and with Babar Azam deploying his spinners, Pakistan needed a moment of magic, a moment of inspiration from one of their players to get back into the game and luckily for them, there was a candidate who was itching to make a difference. It was, of course, Rizwan.

The 28-year-old wicket-keeper produced two outrageous efforts with the gloves in back-to-back overs to leave the English batting crippled. The first one came in the fourth ball of the 15th over, off the bowling of leggie Shadab Khan. As Shabad slid a quicker, shorter one past Moeen Ali, the southpaw - like Banton early on - tried to cut a ball that was too close to him, and that resulted in the ball taking the outside edge of his bat. Remarkably, having no time to react, Rizwan, behind the wickets, pulled off a stunning, self-assisted diving reflex catch to send the all-rounder packing.

But as if this wasn’t outrageous enough already, the 28-year-old came up with another jaw-dropping effort just five balls later, this time off the bowling of Imad Wasim. As the batsman Lewis Gregory danced down the wicket, Imad cleverly bowled a seam-up quicker one, but while the batsmen conveniently missed the ball, the dismissal was all about Rizwan, who added the extra witty touch to it. Collecting the ball cleanly, the 28-year-old took the bails off in lightning quick time, almost in MS Dhoni’esque fashion, to give the batsman no chance whatsoever. So quick was Rizwan’s glovework that the batsman, Gregory, had no time to even look back. 

The commentators went berserk after the stumping and one could understand why. Rizwan, in terms of his glovework, is on a completely different level to the other keepers right now, indeed.

What a catch.... WOW!!!! Brilliant piece of keeping.

Dhoni's first copy? :P

Outrageous!!

VIRTUOSO.

Talented wicket-keeper!👏

Exactly.. 

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