Babar, Rizwan breaks Pakistan's partnership record against West Indies

 Babar, Rizwan breaks Pakistan's partnership record against West Indies

 

KARACHI: Two Pakistani players Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan on Thursday added extra feathers to their caps by breaking records as striking teammates and batsmen played impressively against the West Indies in the third T20I. Babar Azam scored 79 out of 53, while Muhammad Rizwan hit 87 out of 45 as they scored 158 on the first wicket.

 

The 158 opening stand was the 6th-century stage between the two - more so than any of our counterparts hitting the T20Is. They have surpassed India’s striking teammates Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul with 5th-century fame - both of whom have teamed up together for 27 innings. In this six hundred-year partnership, three came in time to beat the second. No other pair has such a record when chasing a target.

 

In the 87th innings, Mohammad Rizwan also became the first cricketer to receive a total of 2,000 T20 runs in a calendar year. He had previously surpassed West Indies Chris Gayle in the list of most T20 runs in the calendar year. He finished the year with 2,036 runs, breaking 18 half-centuries and 100 in T20 cricket this year. Of the 2,036 runs in the T20 total, 1,326 were received in the T20Is, the largest cricket player of the calendar year. During the innings, Rizwan hit three sixes, taking his T20I 6s total in 2021 to 42. He set another standard for six in the scheduled year, outperforming New Zealand's Martin Guptill who hit 41 around the same time.

 

Rizwan also hits 119 players a year to become the only player to score more than 100 goals in a calendar year. Captain Babar Azam also hit half a century today and became the first player to score 20 or 50 points in total T20 cricket in a calendar year. Babar's stats also include three points in double figures.

Babar finished the year 2021 with 939 runs, standing right behind Rizwan in the list of most runs this year and in the list of most runs in the calendar year. Their performance helped Pakistan to chase 208 targets comfortably to register Pakistan’s most successful chase in the T20Is. Points are also the highest T20I points at Karachi National Stadium.