Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, Pakistan’s opening combination, pips KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma are set to set a new T20I world record.

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.

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.