Pakistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan broke hearts of Indian captain Virat Kohli’s fans by smashing multiple T20I records en route to scoring 79 off 50 balls against Namibia in their ICC T20 World Cup 2021 clash in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday (November 2). Rizwan’s fine knock powered Pakistan into the semifinal with a comfortable 45-run win over the African minnows.
The Pakistan wicketkeeper became the only cricketer to score over 900 runs in a year. No other player has been able to score over 748 runs in a calendar year. The 28-year-old also surpassed India captain Kohli and Pakistan skipper Babar Azam to score the most runs in a year. Kohli scored 1,614 while Azam accumulated 1,607 in a year.
With 1,651 T20I runs in 2021, he is now only four runs behind Chris Gayle when it comes to the most T20 runs scored by any batsman in a calendar year. The former West Indies captain had scored 1,665 runs in 2015.
Rizwan also surpassed Kohli’s highest T20I career averages (minimum qualification is for 1,000 runs scored). Rizwan is currently averaging 52.66. This is more than all the 73 batsmen who have at least scored 1,000 T20I runs. Kohli’s career average, on the other hand, is 52.01.
And today @iMRizwanPak surpassed @imVkohli and became the batsman with highest T20i average i.e 52.66
— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) November 2, 2021
Opting to bat, Pakistan were off to a sedate start with just 59 runs on the board at the halfway mark, but the opening duo of skipper Babar Azam and Rizwan ended up adding 113 runs to propel their team to 189 for two in the Super 12 match.
“It was difficult to start off. We had difficulty understanding the conditions early on, hitting too was difficult so the plan was to take the game deep,” Rizwan who was adjudged Man-of-the-Match for his 50-ball knock said.
He credited senior batter Mohammad Hafeez for his cameo of 32 from 16 balls, which allowed him to settle down before going for the kill in the final over, which yielded 24 runs. “Initially the shot was not coming. I just had to bide my time. I had to wait for the opportunity and Hafeez bhai gave me the momentum so I could take off in the final over.”
The 2009 champions are now in the semifinals, having won four matches on the trot. “All the boxes are ticked for the tournament, and now I think we are in with a fighting chance,” he said about their chances.
