It just keeps getting better and batter for Rizwan! Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan extended his purple patch on Tuesday as he became the first player to score 900 T20I runs in a calendar year.
Rizwan achieved the milestone in the 'Super 12' contest against Namibia, putting his side in a commanding position while batting first in Abu Dhabi. He has scored 951 runs in 21 T20Is this year, with 85 fours and 32 sixes under his belt. The 29-year-old now also has most fifty-plus scores (8) in T20Is as an opener.
Rizwan added 113 runs with skipper Babar Azam as the pair revoked the opposition bowling unit. The duo also surpassed Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan in the list of most century partnerships in T20 Internationals. Babar-Rizwan are on the top with five century stands in the shortest format, one more than the experienced Indian pair.
The Rizwan-Babar duo also became the third pair to have multiple hundred partnerships in a single T20 World Cup. Adam Gilchrist-Matthew Hayden (2007) and Virat Kohli-Rohit Sharma (2014) were already a part of the elusive list. Babar and Rizwan also become first pair to add 1000+ runs in T20s in calendar year together.
Babar Azam makes merry
Earlier this year, Rizwan had broken the world record for most runs in a calendar year in the T20 format. He had surpassed the previous record of Ireland's Paul Stirling, who aggregated 748 runs in 20 innings of 20 matches at an average of 41.55 in 2019.
While the third and fourth places are occupied by Ireland's Kevin O'Brien (729) and Pakistan skipper Babar (721), Netherlands' Maxwell O'Dowd (702) stands fifth among the names. India's Shikhar Dhawan is sixth in the list with 689 runs in 17 innings of 18 matches. Dhawan had aggregated the runs at an average of 40.52 back in 2018.
The 29-year-old Rizwan has scored nine half-centuries and one century this year. He has scored runs at a strike rate of almost 140. He ended up scoring unbeaten 79 off 50 the Namibian opposition, whacking 4 fours and a six off JJ Smit in the last over of the innings.
Babar also added another feather to his already illustrious T20I career. The Pakistan skipper notched up his 24th T20I half-century against Namibia. No player has scored more fifties than Babar while leading a side in the T20I format. The 27-year-old batter now also flaunts the most number of fifty-plus scores (3) in a T20 World Cup as a captain.
