Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan
has smashed the world record for Twenty20 International (T20I) runs scored in a
calendar year. The 29-year-old scored 46 runs from 36 deliveries in Pakistan’s second
T20I against the West Indies on Saturday, taking his total to 752 runs from 14
innings in 2021.

The Peshawar-born cricketer has an astonishing
average of 94. Rizwan has surpassed the record held by Ireland’s Paul Sterling,
who scored 748 runs in 20 innings at an average of 41.55 in 2019.

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Ireland’s Kevin O’Brien is third in the
list with 729 runs, from 23 innings with Dutch batsman Maxwell O’Dowd (702) and
Shikhar Dhawan (689) in fourth and fifth respectively.

Rizwan’s runs this year include seven fifties
and one century. He has also struck 65 boundaries and 25 sixes this year. He is
also the leading run-scorer across formats, having scored 1,189 runs so far this
year.

Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf holds the record
for most Test runs in a calendar year, with 1,788 runs in 2006. Indian batting
legend Sachin Tendulkar has scored the most ODI runs in a calendar year – 1,894
from 33 innings at an average of 65.31 in 1998.

Meanwhile, Pakistan defeated West Indies by
seven runs in the second T20I in Guyana to take a 1-0 lead in the four-match
series.

Rizwan and skipper Babar Azam (51), who struck
his 20th T20I half-century, starred with the bat as Pakistan scored
157/8 in 20 overs. Windies batsman Nicholas Pooran struck a 33-ball 62 but it went
in vain as all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez – who conceded just six runs from four
overs and also took a wicket – put in a man-of-the match performance to restrict
the hosts to .

The first match was abandoned due to rain.
The third and fourth matches will also be played in Guyana before the two clash
in a two-match Test series.