Stats: Mohammad Rizwan becomes first player to score 1000 T20I runs in a calendar year

Mohammad Rizwan’s purple patch continues as he scripts history at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium. Facing Australian bowlers in the semi-final of T20 World Cup 2021, the wicketkeeper-batter put up a batting exciting against and slammed 67 off just 52 deliveries. During the course of his sensational knock, Rizwan also became the first batter ever to score 1000 T20I runs in a calendar year.

The dasher got the feat after reaching the 35-run mark. 2021 has indeed been a year to remember for Rizwan as he made his bat talk consistently. Having batted in the middle-order for the major part of his career, Rizwan was given the opening slot in T20Is last year. The decision proved to be spot as Rizwan didn’t look back after that and played one astonishing knock after another.

He formed a formidable pair with skipper Babar Azam and tormented many prominent bowling line-ups. As far as his numbers are concerned, the wicketkeeper has so far slammed 1033 runs in 23 T20I appearances this year. In this duration, his average and strike rate has been a staggering 86.08 and 136.45. Not to forget, he has slammed as many as 10 half-centuries and a hundred in 2021.

Mohammad Rizwan in 2021

Speaking of Rizwan’s latest blitzes, he opened alongside Babar Azam after Australia elected to bowl in the knock-out game. The wicketkeeper didn’t attack bowlers from the outset but took a decent amount of time to assess the conditions. He added 71 runs alongside Babar before the latter got dismissed for 39. However, Rizwan didn’t lose his concentration and continued his merry way of scoring runs.,

Notably, Pakistan’s batting consultant Matthew Hayden revealed that Rizwan was suffering was fever last night but it didn’t restrict him from showcasing his blitzes. “Rizwan was in hospital a night ago, suffering from a bronchitis condition, but this is a warrior, a quiet start to tonight’s campaign, but he has great courage,” said Hayden after the conclusion of the first innings.

The dasher shifted gears in the death overs and played some delightful shots all over the park. He eventually fell prey to Mitchell Starc in the 18th over but not before scoring 67 crucial runs. Besides him, Fakhar Zaman also came to the party and slammed an unbeaten 55 off 32 deliveries. As a result, the Men in Green posted 176/4 in their allotted 20 overs and would be confident of defending this total.