Pakistan v World XI, 3rd T20I – Statistical Highlights

Pakistan clinched the Independence Cup with a huge 33-run win over the World XI side in the decider game of the 3-match series. Ahmed Shehzad’s sparkling innings of 89 helped Pakistan finish at 183/6 supported by Babar Azam and Shoaib Malik like in previous games. World XI were reduced to 67/5 in the chase after their key players got run out. Thisara Perera sparked briefly but didn’t last long enough to make an impact on the outcome as the home side restricted the visitors to 150/8.

Here we look at all the stats and records created during the game.

0 – Number of Pakistan players who have scored 30 and more in three innings of a bilateral T20I series before this Independence Cup. Babar Azam and Ahmed Shehzad scored 30+ in all the three games.

1 – For the first time in his professional career, George Bailey played a game as a designated wicketkeeper. Another World XI player Ben Cutting batted in the top 3 for the first time in his Twenty20 career.

2 – Number of players who have scored 100+ runs and taken 5+ wickets in a bilateral T20I series. Mohammad Hafeez and Shakib Al Hasan have done the double against Zimbabwe in 2011 and 2013 respectively. Thisara Perera scored 96 runs and picked six wickets in this series.

4 – Consecutive bilateral T20I series Pakistan have won starting from the one-off T20I against England last year. They won four bilateral T20I series’ in a row between 2008 and 2009. Australia, West Indies, England, and Afghanistan are the other teams who managed to register wins in four consecutive bilateral T20I series.

4 – Pakistan innings is only the 4th occasion in T20I cricket where both the openers of a team got run out. West Indies in 2008, Australia in 2014 and Hong Kong in 2017 are the other three occasions.

5 – Five batsmen being dismissed run out in this game is only the 5th instance in T20I cricket where five and more batsmen got run out in a match. India-New Zealand T20I in the 2007 World T20 game had six runouts.

5 – Babar Azam is only the 5th player to score 40 and more in three innings of a bilateral T20I series. Martin Guptill, Cameron White, Sabbir Rahman and Virat Kohli are the other three players with three 40+ scores in a bilateral T20I series.

179 – Babar Azam’s 179 runs in this series are the most by a Pakistan player in a bilateral T20I series. Ahmed Shehzad’s 171 runs in this series are the 2nd most. The previous most runs by a Pakistan player in a bilateral T20I series was 168 by Shehzad against Zimbabwe in 2013.

1056 – Total runs scored in this series by both the teams are the 5th most in a bilateral T20I series and the 4th highest in a 3-match series.