Out-of-favour Pakistan batter Ahmed Shehzad has launched a scathing attack on wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan for using ‘religion’ as a shield justify his poor show in the recently concluded T20 World Cup. Rizwan addressed a press conference in his hometown Peshawar on Tuesday, reflecting on Pakistan and his individual performances in the tournament. Rizwan had a disappointing campaign in the T20 World Cup, amassing 110 runs at an average of 36.66 with an underwhelming strike rate of 90.90.

Rizwan admitted that the criticism of the team is justified. However, he also made a bizarre claim, calling himself as the “brand ambassador of islam”.

“I believe that a human being is a brand ambassador of two things. If a person is a Muslim, he represents Islam wherever he goes. 2nd thing is that he is a brand ambassador of Pakistan. It doesn’t matter what anyone says,” Rizwan said during a press conference.

Shehzad, however, slammed Rizwan for diverting the talks around his form by playing the “religion card”.

“It is really disappointing that some players are hiding their poor performance in the World Cup by holding unnecessary press conferences and playing the religion card. Where does religion go when they lie about their fitness and when they admit they were acting on the field? Does religion teach you to deceive others and lie in the field? You are paid to perform on the field, and you join the grouping in the team instead. Religion teaches us to fulfill our responsibility with full determination and not to lie about our suffering. Some spokespeople for these players want them to be given another chance, but why? This is the Pakistan team, and it is not their home team where they can play. If they want another chance, they can make their own team and play with their friends, but not for the Pakistan cricket team anymore,” Shehzad explained in a lengthy post on X.

Shehzad also re-iterated that the PCB should take strict actions against the players.

“We will not let PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi forget the big surgery he promised. Some players of the Pakistani team are now even mocking the chairman’s statement because they don’t care. But we will make sure that fans get their answers and action is taken against these players. We have taken a stand, and we will not back down until this Pakistan team is back on the right track,” he added.

This comes after Shehzad had urged the board to sack all the senior players in the team.