Pakistani skipper Muhammad Rizwan chose to speak in Urdu during the toss ahead of the third match of the Pakistan Super League 10 (PSL).
Rizwan, the captain of the Multan Sultans PSL franchise, preferred to speak in Urdu instead of English during the pre-match presentation. Video of Rizwan speaking in Urdu soon went viral on social media. His decision to speak in Urdu garnered him praise from netizens on social media.
Before the toss, Rizwan said: “I’ll speak in Urdu.” In the pre-match conference, Rizwan said that he would try to incorporate Urdu as much as possible in formal settings.
In a press conference ahead of the start of the HBL PSL 10, Muhammad Rizwan talked about the online trolling and vitriol on his inability to speak fluently in English. He admitted that he is not ashamed that he cannot speak English. However, he regrets not attaining enough education.
“I don’t care. I am proud of one thing, and that is that whatever I say, I say from my heart. I don’t know English. My only regret is that I did not get enough education, but I am not even one per cent ashamed that I can’t speak English despite being the captain of the Pakistan cricket team,” Mohammad Rizwan was quoted as saying by Pakistan media ahead of the PSL tournament.
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Several commentators and cricket analysts on mainstream media had advised Rizwan to speak confidently in Uru language.
“The demand from me is cricket, not English. There is a regret that I did not complete my education, which is why I struggle in speaking English. I tell my juniors to complete their education so that they are able to speak good English,” Rizwan said.
“At the moment, Pakistan is demanding cricket from me. Pakistan is not demanding English from me. When it does, I will leave cricket and become a professor—but I don’t have that much time,” he added.