Mohammad Rizwan’s poor BBL campaign for Melbourne Renegades continued as he was retired out after a sluggish knock against Sydney Thunder.
Playing in his maiden BBL season, Rizwan is yet to score a fifty. He has scored just 167 runs in eight games at a dismal strike rate of 102. His poor run of form continued in the Renegades’ recent BBL game against the Thunder.
Batting first, the Renegades were given a strong start by opener Josh Brown (35 off 25), who added 62 for the first wicket with Tim Seifert in 6.5 overs. Jake Fraser-McGurk played a cameo of 19 off nine. His dismissal in the 10th over brought Rizwan to the middle, with 83 on the board.
Match 33, Sydney Thunder vs Melbourne Renegades
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However, the Renegades were soon reduced to 90-4 as Hassan Khan joined Rizwan, who took four deliveries to open his account. It wasn’t until the 10th ball he faced that he scored his first boundary and followed it up with a six on the next to get to 16 off 11.
But he went into a shell again, scoring just 10 runs off his next 12 deliveries, when captain Will Sutherland decided to retire him out at the end of the 18th over. Renegades were at 154 when Rizwan was called back and could get to 170 by the 20th over.
Commentators backed the move, with one saying, “I think this is a really good move, maybe could have happened an over or two earlier.”
Thunder’s chase wasn’t smooth, with rain playing further spoilsport. They were 80-3 in 11 overs when rain stopped proceedings and were then handed a revised target of 140 in 16 overs. Renegades’ Gurinder Sandhu then dismissed Sam Billings and Daniel Sams with consecutive deliveries after the resumption.
Nic Maddinson and Chris Green, however, ensured there were no further hiccups. The former hit Sandhu for two consecutive sixes, while the latter hit the pacer for three straight six. Eventually, they got home on the second ball of the 16th over.
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