Amir reveals rationale behind Rizwan faking cramps

Pakistan wicket-keeper batter, Mohammad Rizwan overcame cramps to complete his third ODI century in the ICC World Cup 2023 match against Sri Lanka on Tuesday.

During the post-match presentation ceremony, in a lighthearted admission, Rizwan also joked about occasionally faking cramps, blending seriousness with humor in his remarks.

However, former Pakistan pacer Mohammad Amir shed light on the reasoning behind Rizwan's on-field acting. Amir explained that this is a clever approach by any cricketer to disrupt the flow and buy some time for contemplation.

“When the batsman is hitting you mercilessly, I also resort to acting. After bowling a delivery, I slowly walk back towards my run-up for the next ball. This gives you time to think. If you are getting hit and you go ball the next delivery, you don’t get time to think. So it is a way of breaking the momentum,” Amir said.

Furthermore, Amir stated that he also used to employ a deliberate tactic of slowing down the game, especially against a new batsman, by delivering dot balls to prevent them from settling.

“If a batsman is new to the crease, then you try to start bowling dots ball quickly to him, so that you don’t give him time to think. I sometimes tie my laces in between to take time to think. These are tactics, which Rizwan used cleverly,” he added.

It is worth noting that Rizwan scored his third ODI century off 97 balls with seven fours and two sixes and was still at the crease as Pakistan chased a winning target of 345 against Sri Lanka, which is the highest run-chase in ODI World Cup history.