Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, Pakistan’s opening combination, pips KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are set to set a new T20I world record.
On their way to their respective half-centuries in the third T20I against the West Indies in Karachi on Friday, the two also set world records.
Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, Pakistan’s skipper and opening partner, have extended their great form in the T20I format to set a new global record as a batting partnership, surpassing KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma of India. On their way to their respective half-centuries in the third T20I against the West Indies in Karachi on Friday, the two also set individual world records.
Rizwan and Babar stitched a superb 158-run opening partnership in response to West Indies’ mammoth target of 208 runs in the final T20I of the three-match series. It was their fourth 150-plus stand as an opening combination, all of which occurred in 2021 and were all firsts in the T20I format for Pakistan. It was also their second-highest partnership as a duo, following their 197-run partnership against South Africa earlier this year.
The century stand was also their sixth as a T20I combo, surpassing the Indian duo of Rahul and Rohit, who have five such centuries between them.
Babar struck a 53-ball 79 on his way to the partnership. It was his 20th fifty-plus score in T20 cricket this year, the most by any batsman in a single calendar year.
In the meantime, Rizwan scored 2000 runs in T20 cricket in 2021, the most by a player in a calendar year. Rizwan had previously eclipsed West Indies batting legend Chris Gayle to become the greatest run-getter in T20s in a calendar year during the T20 World Cup event in the UAE. In 2015, Gayle scored 1665 runs in 36 innings. During Pakistan’s semi-final match, Babar had also passed the veteran batsman to claim second place behind Rizwan.
#PAKvWI Very impressive record chase tonight.Self belief & calmness was at the heart of that feat!Great year for Rizwan & he doesn’t have a bad partner in Babar too. Pity about the rescheduling of the ODI series but we will have a full fledged fit WI team for that June encounter.
— Ramiz Raja (@iramizraja) December 16, 2021
Rizwan was eventually fired after hitting 45 balls in a row. With his stunning seven-ball 21, Asif Ali put the final touches on Pakistan’s most successful T20I chase, completing a 3-0 whitewash over the Windies.