“Told An Hour Before…”: Was Mohammad Rizwan Denied Double Ton By Skipper Shan Masood?

Mohammad Rizwan remained unbeaten on 171© AFP

After a torrid start to the first day of the opening Test against Bangladesh, Pakistan rode on centuries from Saud Shakeel and Mohammad Rizwan to put a big first innings total of 448/6 on the board. While Shakeel was dismissed on 141, Rizwan remained unbeaten on 171 before Pakistan skipper Shan Masood decided to declare the innings. The timing of the declaration, however, triggered a debate among fans and experts, with many wondering if Masood could’ve let Rizwan reach his double century.

Rizwan’s teammate Shakeel was also asked about the timing of the declaration after the end of the innings, as he was just 29 runs shy of a historic double-century. But, Shakeel said that the wicket-keeper batter was informed of the timing of the declaration about an hour before. The decision, hence, wasn’t taken in haste.

“See, as far as Rizwan bhai’s double century is concerned, I don’t think there was a haste in taking the decision (to declare the innings). Because Rizwan bhai was clearly told an hour before that we would be declaring at this point in time. So he had an idea when we would declare. He was told we will try to near 450 before declaring,” Shakeel said after the end of the second day’s play.

Many fans voiced their disagreement with the declaration decision, saying Pakistan could’ve ended the innings after crossing the 500-run mark. That would’ve allowed Rizwan to reach his double ton too.

In the 12 overs that Pakistan bowled on Day 2, they failed to pick up a single wicket. Bangladesh opening batters Shadman Islam and Zakir Hasan scored 12 and 11 runs respectively as the team total read 27/0 at stumps.

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