Pakistan captain Babar Azam and Mohammad
Rizwan have scripted a world record as a batting pair while opening the innings
in a T20I against West Indies in Karachi on Friday. Babar and Rizwan went past
the Indian opening duo of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul. While scoring their
respective half-century during their third T20I against West Indies in Karachi
on Friday, the two also scripted their individual world records.
Also Read: ICC announced IPL XI: Shoaib Akhtar on Babar Azam snub for T20 Team of the Decade
In response to West Indies’ massive target
of 208 runs in the final T20I of the three-match series, Rizwan and Babar
shared a stellar 158-run stand for the opening partnership. It was their sixth
as a pair in T20I cricket, the most by a combination, as they went past the
Indian pair of Rahul and Rohit, who has five such partnerships to their name.
Meanwhile, it was Babar and Rizwan’s fourth
150-plus stand as an opening pair, all of which came in 2021, and they are the
first Pakistani pair to notch such a remarkable batting record in the shortest
format of the game. The stand was also their second-highest as a pair after
their partnership of 197 against South Africa earlier this year.
Also Read: Multiple COVID cases emerge in West Indies camp, Pakistan tour in jeopardy
Individual records achieved
Babar scored 79 off 53 balls while Rizwan
scored 86 off 45. It was Babar’s 20th fifty-plus score in T20I in this calendar
year, which is the most by any cricketer in a single year. Rizwan, on the other
hand, reached 2000 runs figure in T20 cricket in 2021 which is the most by a
player in a calendar year. Earlier, during the T20 World Cup tournament in the
UAE, Rizwan had surpassed West Indies batting legend Chris Gayle to become the
highest run-getter in T20Is in a calendar year. Babar too had gone past the
veteran batsman during Pakistan’s semi-final game, to take the second spot
behind Rizwan.
Also Read: Less than 4000 people turn up for Pakistan vs West Indies T20I in Karachi
Asif Ali added the finishing touches with
his incredible seven-ball 21 as Pakistan completed their highest successful
T20I chase to script a 3-0 whitewash over the West Indies.