Rizwan Leaves Babar and Kohli Behind With Yet Another Record

Mohammad Rizwan, Pakistan’s opening batsman, hit another brilliant half-century against Bangladesh in the tri-nation tournament’s inaugural match on Friday morning at Hagley Oval in New Zealand.

The wicket-keeper hitter led Pakistan to a 21-run victory and set numerous T20 records with his match-winning effort of 78 runs off 50 balls, which included seven boundaries and two maximums.

With this strike, the 30-year-old became the third player to achieve 1,500 T20 runs in a single year, joining Chris Gayle, Babar Azam, and his opening partner in the shortest format on the list.

It is important to note that whereas Babar scored 1,607 in 2019 and 1,779 in 2021, Gayle scored 1,532 and 1,665 in 2012 and 2015, respectively. With plenty of cricket still to be played this year, wicket-keeper batsman Rizwan, who scored 2,036 T20 runs last year, has 1,519 runs to his name.

In addition, Rizwan’s knock of 78 lifted him ahead of Babar on the list of highest aggregate runs after 58 T20I innings. This was his 58th T20I innings. Babar and Virat Kohli each scored 2,281 runs in their first 58 T20I innings.

In the previous week, Rizwan also passed England’s Jos Buttler to become the wicketkeeper with the most 50+ scores in international T20s, breaking a tie with Pakistani captain Babar Azam for fastest batter to reach 2,000 T20I runs.