Pakistan vs West Indies: Babar Azam And Mohammad Rizwan Resume Battle For Big T20I Record

Pakistan take on West Indies in the first T20I at Karachi on Monday and all eyes will be on the two prolific opening batters from the home team. Captain Babar Azam and wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Rizwan formed the bedrock of Pakistan's superb campaign at the ICC T20 World Cup last month, which saw the team reach the semi-finals before losing to eventual champions Australia. Both Babar and Rizwan have been in terrific form this year, and are placed at the top of the run-making tree.

Rizwan leads the charts currently with 1123 runs from 26 matches at a strike-rate of 131.19. The consistency with which he has scored runs can be gauged from the fact that he has scored a century and 10 half-centuries in the shortest format at the international stage in 2021. This in fact is the most runs scored by any batter in a calendar year in men's T20Is.

While Rizwan looks certain to finish on top of the list and make the record his own by the time 2021 comes to an end, he should expect stiff competition from his captain Babar Azam.

Babar has scored 853 runs in T20Is in 2021 in 26 matches at a strike-rate of 126.55 with a century and 8 half-centuries to his name.

While Rizwan is well over 200 runs clear of Babar in the list, the Pakistani captain is not averse to playing big knocks in the shortest format and can give Rizwan a run for his money.

It will be great for the Pakistani fans to see the two players battle it out as both men would eventually contribute to the team's cause.

West Indies are touring Pakistan for three T20Is and three ODIs.

Topics mentioned in this article

Pakistan Cricket Team West Indies Cricket Team Babar Azam Mohammad Rizwan Shaheen Afridi Cricket