Mohammad Rizwan adjudged ICC T20I Cricketer of the Year

The governing body of world cricket, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has officially announced their Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year for 2021, and while there were many players who had proved their mettle in the shortest format in the year gone by, the ICC decided to pick Pakistan’s wicketkeeper batter Mohammad Rizwan for his exceptional performances on the 22 yards.

Rizwan had a dream 2021 not only with the bat but also behind the stumps as he amassed 1326 runs in 29 games at a strike rate of 134.89 averaging 73.66 and completed 24 dismissals with his glovework. The opener had also played a key role in the Men In Green making it to the semi-finals of ICC T20 World Cup 2021. He finished the tournament as the third-highest run-getter (281) behind the Player of the Tournament David Warner (289), and, his skipper Babar Azam (303).

Mohammad Rizwan’s best performances in 2021

While he scored his maiden T20I century at Lahore against South Africa in early 2021, his best knock of the year came against arch-rivals India in the T20 World Cup 2021 Super 12 fixture on October 24. Chasing 152, Mohammad Rizwan remained unbeaten on a 55-ball 79 including six boundaries and three maximums at an impressive strike rate of 143.6. He along with Babar Azam (68*) helped Pakistan break their World Cup jinx over the arch-rivals without breaking a sweat by 10 wickets and more than two overs to spare.

Playing his first knockout match in a major tournament, Rizwan held his nerves and made it matter for his team in the semi-final against the eventual champions Australia where he went on to score a valiant 52-ball 67 at a strike rate of almost 129 which played an instrumental role in the Men In Green posting a challenging total of 176/4 from their 20 overs.

It nearly turned out to be a match-winning knock before Hasan Ali’s dropped catch and Aussie middle-order batter Matthew Wade’s three consecutive sixes of Shaheen Afridi brought curtains down on the 2009 champions’ promising campaign.

After being adjudged the ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year, Rizwan would now be pumped out to attain greater heights in 2022 with two multi-nation tournaments lined up in the shortest format- Asia Cup & T20 World Cup.