'Good news for Indo-Pak fans' - Twitter thrilled as Mohammad Rizwan, Cheteshwar Pujara set to play together in County Championship

Happiness galore for both India and Pakistan fans as Cheteshwar Pujara and Mohammad Rizwan will be seen batting together. The duo is set to make their County Championship debut for Sussex on April 14 (Thursday). Both Pujara and Rizwan will take the crease against Derbyshire.

To note, Indian batter Pujara will play the County Championship and Royal London One-Day tournament for most of the season. However, Pakistani batter Rizwan will be available for County Championship and T20 cricket until mid-July, due to his national team commitments.

‘They are absolute world-class cricketers’ – Sussex head coach on Pujara and Rizwan

Sussex Head Coach Ian Salisbury has expressed his happiness to see the talented duo playing for the county side. The coach also said that it will bring a huge boost for their County side.

“I am extremely excited to be able to bring in players of Rizwan and Pujara’s quality into the side. Not only are they absolute world-class cricketers that will boost our performances on the pitch, but to have them around the boys and in the dressing room can only be a positive,” said Salisbury ahead of the match.

Fans on both sides will also be looking forward to the opportunity of seeing Rizwan and Pujara bat together. Talking about their numbers in international cricket, Pujara has played 95 Test matches for India, in which he has amassed 6713 runs at an excellent average of 43.88. The right-handed batter has stroked 32 fifties, 18 centuries and three double-hundreds as well. He has also represented India in five ODI matches, scoring 51 runs at an average of 10.2.

On the other hand, Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Rizwan has played 22 Test matches for his country so far and has scored 1112 runs at an average of 42.76. Talking about his white-ball career, the 29-year-old has played 100 matches, including both T20Is and ODIs. He has scored 2,559 runs, with 17 half-centuries and three hundreds as well.

Meanwhile here are some Twitter reactions:

The prospect of Rizwan/Pujara batting together, maybe a fist bump in the middle, is heartwarming. 2 countries that love their cricket and should share the field more often#CountyChampionship #Cricket

— MediumPaceDobbler (@MediumPaceDobb1) April 13, 2022

We've named a 13-player squad to travel to Derbyshire for our match that starts tomorrow. 👊@cheteshwar1 and @iMRizwanPak are both in line to make their Sussex debuts. 🌟

Full details. 📝 ⬇ #GOSBTS

— Sussex Cricket (@SussexCCC) April 13, 2022

Today in Country Championship Muhammad Rizwan And Cheteshwar Pujara Will be Playing together for Sussex.

— Maham Fatima (@MahamOfficial_2) April 14, 2022

Pujara has joined Sussex ahead of their second match in County Championship 2022 – Pujara and Rizwan will be playing together this season.

— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 9, 2022

Pujara and Rizwan in county championship 😍😍😍 pic.twitter.com/ZLwiSVbroZ

— Mr_feiz_17 (@Apka_Apna_JEEJU) April 10, 2022

Cheteshwar Pujara and Mohammad Rizwan are set to play their first match for Sussex today (vs Derbyshire).

Sussex haven't won any of their last 6 matches across formats (County + Blast). Also, Sussex have won only 1 of their last 4 matches against Derbyshire.#CountyChampionship

— Rhitankar Bandyopadhyay (@rhitankar8616) April 14, 2022

Divided by british and United by british
Rizwan🤝Pujara pic.twitter.com/HLJz7bXPhx

— Varunkumar (@Varunkumar4303) April 11, 2022

Good news for Indo-Pak fans as #Rizwan and #Pujara will represent the same team in the County Championship #PAKvIND #LVCountyChamp pic.twitter.com/vwJPZIqPlG

— Talha (@Babl00__) April 13, 2022