Published in The News, on June 5th, 2023, By Sports Desk
Pakistan’s Babar Azam and Rizwan have joined Harvard Business School’s executive education programme on the Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports
Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Rizwan, who is currently at the Harvard Business School, has gifted a copy of the Holy Quran to his teacher at the prestigious university in Boston, United States.
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam and batter Rizwan have joined the Harvard Business School’s executive education programme on the Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports (BEMS).
A picture of the wicketkeeper-batter presenting the English translation of the holy book to his teacher surfaced on Twitter.
The act was widely adored and appreciated by the netizens.
‘Spreading Islam’
‘What a great ambassador!’
‘Rizwan doing what he’s best at’
‘Rizwan excels at spreading Islam’
It may be noted that Rizwan is a practising Muslim and is very active in religious propagation as he preaches Islam to his fellow cricketers and seniors as well. Earlier, he gifted a copy of the Holy Quran to Pakistan’s former batting consultant Mathew Hayden as well.
Babar and Rizwan became the first two cricketers to join the prestigious school. They will participate in the programme from May 31 to June 3. The duo will also engage with various communities in the US after the programme till June 13.
“It is a huge honour to represent Pakistan on such a prestigious global stage. We are going to the BEMS programme at Harvard to learn from the best of the best in the world — both in terms of faculty and programme fellows — and at the same time to share our journey and learnings with everyone. I am certain that this will be an exciting journey, and I look forward to sharing our learning and experiences with the next superstars of the cricket world,” Rizwan had said a few days back.
Meanwhile, Babar also echoed similar thoughts.
“I am a lifelong learner and I have had detailed chats about this programme with Prof. Elberse and [Talha] Rehmani. My inspiration for joining this world-class programme at Harvard is to connect, explore, listen, learn, grow, and give back to the community worldwide. I am sure there are scores of things to learn from the amazing athletes and top business executives from the entertainment, media, and sports industries who are coming from corners of the world.”
Previously, this course has also been taken by other sportspersons including footballers Kaka, Edwin van der Sar, Gerard Pique, Oliver Kahn, NFL’s Brandon Marshall, NBA’s Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade and Major League Baseball’s Alex Rodriguez.