Mohammad Rizwan Broke Six T20 Records In 2021

2021 became a year to recall for Pakistan’s wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan who made record after record with his batting performance in the shortest format.

His match-winning overall performance on Thursday become yet another demonstration of excellence, where he scored a brilliant 45-ball 87 in a 158-run opening partnership with Babar Azam (79) to assist Pakistan to chase down a 208-run target set by the West Indies in Karachi to finish a 3-zero easy sweep.

These records are broken by Rizwan in only 12 months.

Most T20I fifties

Innings of 87 by Rizwan in his 13th T20 international fifty-plus score, and 12th this year. With his half-century, he also carved his name in the record book in a calendar year, for the most number of the T20I fifties.

Most sixes

In his innings with the West Indies, Rizwan hit 3 huge sixes, taking his overall number maximums this year to 42. He surpassed Martin Guptill’s 41-sixes record in the process, in the T20I format in 2021.

No other batsman, barring West Indies’ Evin Lewis (34) and Nicholas Pooran (32), has hit 30 above sixes in T20I cricket this yr.

Most fours

Rizwan’s 119 fours in T20I cricket this yr is the best from any international cricketer. So far, no batsman, aside from Rizwan, has scored one hundred or more boundaries in a calendar yr.

Most T20 runs in a calendar yr

Rizwan’s golden run in 2021 commenced with a successful tour of New Zealand in which he scored two fifties. This was continued by a brilliant run in the sixth season of PSL where he was the second-highest scorer with 500 runs in 12 innings. He also had a successful tour against South Africa, Zimbabwe, England, and then performed in T20 World Cup, in which he made the third-highest scorer with 285 runs.

Overall, the 29-yr-old accumulated over 2,000 T20 runs this yr, becoming the most effective cricketer in history to obtain the milestone.

Most runs in T20Is

Rizwan’s 1,326 runs scored by Rizwan in T20Is are also the best ever scored by any batsman in a calendar yr. He stands way ahead of the six-year-old record of  1,165 runs made by Chris Gayle’s in 2015.

Most player-of-the-series awards

Rizwan scored 4 half-centuries in his last seven T20I innings. Due to his steady performances, he received successive Player-of-the-Series awards playing against Bangladesh as well as against the West Indies.

Overall, the right-handed player won a total of six awards this year;  two in test cricket and 4 in T20Is, equaling Sachin Tendulkar’s 23-year-old record of most player of the series awards received in a calendar year. The Indian batting star had received as many awards in 1998.