Pakistan’s wicket keeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan, who was exceptionally good at the T20 World Cup and scored 281 runs off his 6 innings, has recently talked about his health during the tournament in a media interaction on Monday.
The record holder batter reportedly developed a severe chest infection just before the T20 World Cup semi-final. He narrated his journey from the hotel to the hospital and then to the cricket ground.
Rizwan said that though he had told his family in the hotel that he is just going to have an ECG done downstairs to keep them calm, he had lost his breath by the time he reached the hospital.
“My condition was not good,” said Rizwan. He said that the doctors told him that both his oesophagus and respiratory tract were blocked. The cricketer added that he cannot even recall their names.
“They were not telling me anything and saying that I will get well by the morning,” said Rizwan.
“The next afternoon, they told me that I will get discharged [from the hospital] by the evening.”
The cricketer said at this point, he asked a nurse about his condition and she told him that “both his oesophagus and the reparatory tube would have burst if he got 20 minutes late” in reaching the hospital.
The nurse told Rizwan that he would have to remain hospitalised as long as the doctors would advise.
Rizwan said that the medical team performed different kinds of tests but he kept himself convinced that “this test or that test would make him better”.
He said that the doctor told him that he wants him [Rizwan] to play the semi-final for Pakistan.
“This gave me a boost,” said Rizwan, adding that one encouragement from the doctors made him take two steps towards the recovery.
Rizwan said he was a bit “dismayed when the doctor told him that his condition was not stable enough for him to play”.
Rizwan said that he missed few sessions of practice in Dhaka for the upcoming series with Bangladesh. But he shared that he will be going to the practice sessions after the rest he was advised by the doctors.
While talking about his pillow, the 29-year-old said that this is a medicated pillow and a wicket-keeper always has a neck issue because of the keeping and batting as well. “I was referred this medicated pillow to tackle the stiffness due to the exertion.”
He added: “It helps me a lot. When you are recovering, sleep is very much important and that is why I carry the pillow with me. It is spotted with me because I don’t want to miss it for even one night and send it with the bags.”
“I just carry it with myself in my hands so I recover with its help to play the matches.”
Playing in the first ICC semi-final of his career, Rizwan became the first player in the history of the game to score 1,000 T20I runs in a calendar year.
Rizwan scored a half-century against Australia in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup. He was also the the third highest scorer of the tournament.
Rizwan is included in the squad of Test matches and T20Is against Bangladesh, which is set to start from November 19.
