Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan wishes to have the focus and concentration levels of his County teammate Cheteshwar Pujara as he looks to improve as a red-ball cricketer.

Pujara has made a strong case for a India Test comeback with two hundreds and as many double hundreds in his campaign for Sussex in County Championship Division 2.

The Indo-Pak duo shared a 154-run stand against Durham earlier this month. Rizwan, who was named the ICC Player of the Year for 2021, rates Pakistan’s Younis Khan and Fawad Alam highly when it comes to batting with unwavering concentration but he has now added Pujara to the list.

“As far as myself and Pujara are concerned, I didn’t feel anything strange (on the lines of India-Pakistan rivalry). And hopefully, if you ask him, his answer will be the same. I do share a laugh with him and tease him (laughs) and everyone in the team knows this,” Rizwan told Cricwick when asked about the time spent with the India veteran.

Heaping praise on Pujara, Rizwan said: “He is a very nice and loving guy. And his concentration and focus too... If you get a chance to learn something, you should do it.

“In terms of concentration levels and I told this to the coaches here too. In my whole career, the players with most focus, concentration are Younis bhai, Fawad Alam and his (Pujara’s).

“Pujara is second on my list and Fawad Alam on three in terms of pure concentration and focus. I rate these three players very highly.”

Regular white-ball cricket can affect your discipline in the longer-format and Rizwan said advice from Pujara helped him on that front.

“There comes a time when focus and concentration levels drop... I will try to figure how these three players have such intense focus and concentration.”

“I had a chat with Pujara after I got out early. He told me a few things and one of them was to play close to the body,” Rizwan concluded.