Cricket World Cup: Muhammad Rizwan drops controversial X post; dedicates match-winning ton to Gaza

Meenakshi Rao tracks some of the interesting developments that have taken place during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 that is taking place in India.

Hyderabad/New Delhi: Muhammad Rizwan dropped a controversial X post supporting Gaza after scoring a match-winning hundred against Sri Lanka t the Rajiv Gandhi stadium in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

In a controversial X post, the star performer and centurion of the Hyderabad game against Sri Lanka, Muhammad Rizwan posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he had dedicated his 131-run knock to the people of Gaza. "This was for our brothers and sisters in Gaza. Happy to contribute to the win. Credits to the whole team and especially Abdullah Shafique and Hassan Ali for making it easier. Extremely grateful to the people of Hyderabad for the amazing hospitality and support throughout," Rizwan wrote on X.

The Hamas strike on Israel which killed scores of people is still fresh in world politics and Rizwan’s X post will raise another storm for the ICC after the abrupt exit from India of Pakistani presenter Zainab Abbas for alleged anti-India statements in the past. Under ICC rules, players are not allowed to drop any political statements on social media or other platforms. In 2014, England all-rounder Moeen Ali was banned by the ICC from wearing "Save Gaza" and "Free Palestine" wristbands for the third Test against India in Southampton. England later cleared Moeen Ali to wear the bands, arguing it was a humanitarian statement, not a political one. Neither the ICC nor the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) whose chief is travelling to Motera for the India-Pakistan match has commented on Rizwan’s post so far.

Meanwhile, the Babar Azam-led Pakistan team arrived in Ahmedabad for their marquee clash against arch-rivals India on October 14. India is currently playing Afghanistan in New Delhi, which was sizzling hot in the afternoon.

• Pakistan team in high-security Ahmedabad

The Pakistan team has, meanwhile, already reached Ahmedabad and will be practising at the bullring in Motera tomorrow (on Thursday). They would be a happy lot now that their journalist friends will be there and would be looking forward to some support when they play India at the Narendra Modi Stadium. It's getting hot in Motera at 34 degrees today when the 'Men in Green' landed at 4 pm and were quickly escorted to their hotel with security concerns hitting a new high.

The last time the Pakistani team was in Motera was way back on December 28, 2012 and India won the ODI match there by 11 runs. Back to the present, as expected, security has been beefed up in the city with 12,000 men in uniform from the Gujarat Police, the National Security Guard and the Rapid Action Force besides the Home Guards crowding the city and the stadium just in case of an eventuality. Security apart, all roads will lead to the Narendra Modi stadium with its 1,32,000 capacity which has been sold out from the word go. That’s as big as it gets.

• Finally, the Pak journalists are coming

The big news of the day? All the Pakistani journalists stranded on their side of the border due to a visa delay have finally got the visas and will be joining their team for its biggest moment in Ahmedabad – a clash against India. Had the Indian Government not obliged, this would have been the first time in Pakistan Cricket’s history that the team would have travelled for a tournament without its media brigade. Close to 60 journalists, including those working for international wire agencies like AFP, would now be flying to Motera for the Saturday night blockbuster.

Those on the cricket World Cup circuit for long will tell you how the camaraderie and connection between the Pakistan team and the journalists brings an altogether different flavour to not just the trajectory of the team but also to the press box. The high point of the press box is when the India-Pakistan match happens. There is a healthy rivalry in the press box too with both Indian and Pakistani journalists rooting for their respective teams.

In the absence of the journalist brigade, the International Cricket Council (ICC) had made arrangements for them to cover the press conferences and send their special queries on a dedicated WhatsApp group as well as meetings through Zoom links. However, the journalists had steadfastly refused to cover the event online. Now that the press box will welcome the scribes from across the border, the atmosphere at the match will become interesting.

• Delhi sears with the sun and runs

It was a searing 35 degrees, liquid heat pouring over the capital, more so on the Arun Jaitley stadium where a full house flicked aside the vagaries of the sun to get into the spirit of cricket. The stands had many Afghan fans emerging from the lanes and bylanes of Lajpat Nagar and Khirki Village in Saket, all colourful and boisterous about their team which, incidentally, performed exceedingly well with the bat to give a few sore emotions to the legendary Indian bowlers. The Afghan fans in the stands ably complemented the huge journalistic brigade of 40-plus people that landed in the press box to cover their team’s campaign against the hosts.

“I am in India to study and it was a magic moment for me when I got two tickets for this match. I am super excited to be here and don’t mind the sun or its heat. What we want is that Hashmatullah Shahidi leads a win,” Gul, a 24-year-old Afghani said. The Indian fans were no less noisy with their Virat Kohli shirts crowding the stands, naturally outnumbering the Afghans. All the 31k population in the stands had the decibel rush to a new height.