Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan: The star Pakistan duo shattered multiple records at the National Stadium today.
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During the second T20I of England’s tour of Pakistan 2022 in Karachi, Pakistan beat England by 10 wickets in a thumping manner to make up lost ground in a seven-match series.
Chasing a 200-run target, Pakistan thrived on the back of an unbeaten 203-run match-winning opening partnership between wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan (88*) and captain Babar Azam (110*). The star duo hitting a combined total of 16 fours and nine sixes between them powered Pakistan to their highest successful T20I run-chase.
While a 59-run powerplay had set the ball rolling in an apt manner for the hosts, Rizwan and Azam not only avoided getting out but ensured scoring shots even after the fielding restrictions were lifted to not suffer in the middle overs. Progressing perpetually throughout their 117-ball stay at the National Stadium tonight, both the right-handed batters managed to put on display a masterclass in chasing.
Shaheen Shah Afridi tweets sarcastically after Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan power Pakistan to highest T20I run-chase
Currently recovering from a knee injury, Pakistan speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi was following the match from the sidelines. Afridi, 22, took to social media platform Twitter to express joy not only for Rizwan and Azam but for the whole Pakistani team.
That being said, better part of Afridi’s tweet was encompassed with sarcasm. Taking a leaf out of critics’ book, Afridi sarcastically wrote around how “selfish” Rizwan and Azam could’ve finished the match by the 15th over but they chose to drag it to the last over.
For the unversed, both Rizwan and Azam face a lot of flak for their approach towards the shortest format. Despite having most hundred partnerships, highest partnership runs and second-highest opening partnership runs in T20Is to their names, Rizwan and Azam are often at the wrong end of strike rate-related criticism.
While a better strike rate, especially in the middle overs, will further take their respective games to another level, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Rizwan and Azam are among the leading modern-day T20I batters in the role they play. This conclusion isn’t on the basis of just perception but more because of their sheer consistency in the recent years in a fickle-natured format such as T20Is.
