When Rizwan Turned To Pujara For Advise To Play In England

Cheteshwar Pujara and Mohammad Rizwan are playing county cricket for Sussex this season.

The Indo-Pak cricket rivalry has paused for a while as fans from both countries are enjoying watching two stars - Cheteshwar Pujara and Mohammad Rizwan - play together for one team - Sussex - in the County Championship. 

While this isn't the first Pujara is playing in County, Rizwan is playing his County debut. Rizwan hasn't made much of an impact with the bat apart from a 79 he made. After an inconsistent start, Rizwan turned to advice from his teammate Pujara. 

“With Pujara, I had a chat with him after I got out early. He told me a few things and one of them was to play close to the body. And as everyone knows, we have been playing white-ball cricket consistently over the past few years and play a bit away from our body. In white-ball, you don't play very close to your body since the ball doesn't swing or seam as much,” Rizwan told as quoted by Cricwick.

“So early on here, I played away from my body and got out twice in a similar way. Then I went over to meet him in the nets and I remember him saying that when we play in Asia, we force the ball to play the drive. Here, we don't need to do that. And we need to play close to the body. I have played white-ball cricket consistently. So these are the things which he told me and whatever he learned from me, he can tell," Rizwan added. 

Pujara and Rizwan were involved in a 154-run stand against Durham during which the Indian batter scored a double-century while the Pakistani wicketkeeper hit 79. Pujara is the third-highest run-scorer in the County season currently with 717 runs in four matches. 

Sussex's next match is against Leicestershire.