Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan break Pakistan's partnership record against WI

Openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan Thursday broke records as batting partners and as individual batters against West Indies in the third T20I.

Babar Azam scored 79 off 53, while Muhammad Rizwan smashed 87 off 45 as they scored 158 for the first wicket.

The opening stand of 158 was a 6th-century stand between the pair — the most by any batting partners in T20Is. They surpassed Indian batting partners Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul who have the 5th century stands to their credit — both the pair partnered together in 27 innings.

Among these six-century partnerships, three have come while batting second. No other pair has such a record while chasing the target.

During the innings of 87, Mohammad Rizwan also became the first cricketer to score overall 2,000 T20 runs in a calendar year.

He had earlier surpassed West Indies Chris Gayle in the list of most T20 runs in a calendar year.

He ended the year with 2,036 runs, smashing 18 half-centuries and a century in T20 cricket this year. Of a total of 2,036 T20 runs, 1,326 were scored in T20Is, also the most by a cricketer in a calendar year.

During the innings, Rizwan smashed three sixes, taking his total T20I 6s tally in 2021 to 42. He set a new record of most sixes in a calendar year, surpassing New Zealand’s Martin Guptill who smashed 41 in the same year.

Rizwan also stormed 119 fours in the year to become the only player to smash over 100 boundaries in a calendar year.

Skipper Babar Azam also smashed a half-century today and became the first player to achieve 20 scores of 50 or more in overall T20 cricket in a calendar year. Babar’s tally also includes three scores in double figures.