One of the main reasons for Pakistan performing outstandingly well in T20I cricket for the past year or so has been the opening pair of Mohammad Rizwan and skipper Babar Azam. Rizwan, who was in and out of the side playing in the middle-order has suddenly become one of the best opening batters in the world since having been promoted to the top of the order.
Rizwan averaged in the 20s before 2021 and now has scored the most number of runs in T20s across international cricket, domestic and franchise leagues. He led Multan Sultans to their first PSL title and with nine 50-plus scores and a century has taken the opening position like fish to water.
Rizwan scored just 15 runs in Pakistan’s final group stage game of the ongoing ICC Men’s T20 World Cup but surpassed West Indies legend Chris Gayle’s record of scoring most runs in a calendar year in T20s. Gayle had scored 1665 runs in 36 matches he played in 2015 and Rizwan needed just 13 runs on Sunday to overtake him and he did.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli is third on the list with 1614 runs in 31 matches he amassed in 2016, followed by Babar Azam (1607 runs) in 39 matches in 2019 and AB de Villiers (1580 runs) in 43 matches in 2019.
Rizwan has continued his form with a couple of 79* knocks against India and Namibia and is currently fourth on the list of most run-getters in the ongoing T20 World Cup behind Jos Buttler, Charith Asalanka and Babar Azam.
