Pakistan wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan on Thursday, December 16, became the first batter to score 2,000 plus T20 runs in a single calendar year. He crossed the milestone after smashing 87 runs off 45 balls during the third and final T20I against West Indies here at the National Stadium, Karachi.
He reached the milestone in Pakistan’s batting innings’ 11th over. More than 1200 runs have come in 26 T20I innings for Pakistan out of the 2000 runs achieved in 2021.
Pakistan trounced West Indies by seven wickets in the third and final T20I on Thursday, with Rizwan and Babar Azam starring with the bat.
Pakistan got off to a fantastic start in their chase of 208 runs, as openers Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan put on 60 runs in the opening six overs.
Pakistan’s score at the midway point was 98/0, with the hosts requiring 110 runs from the next 10 overs to win. Babar and Rizwan put on a 158-run partnership for the first wicket, with both batsmen passing the fifty-run mark. Babar was sent back to the pavilion after scoring 79, while Rizwan was sent back after scoring 87 runs laced with 10 fours and three maximums. With this, Rizwan also completed his 13th half-century in T20Is.
Earlier, West Indies put up a tough total of 207 runs at the loss of three wickets thanks to an impeccable team effort of the visitors. Openers Brandon King (43) and Shamarh Brooks (49) put on 66 runs within the first six overs of their innings, while it was Nicholas Pooran’s 64 off of 37 balls that powered the team to a defendable total in the stipulated 20 overs.
However, their efforts were rendered in vain as Pakistan swooped away with a comprehensive seven-wicket victory with seven balls remaining to seal the series by 3-0.
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