The Pakistan opening duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan produced a magnificent outing in the 2nd T20I of the series against England, as they forged an unbeaten 203-run stand to steer the side to a 10-wicket win in Karachi. It was an innings of magnanimous proportions from Babar who made a much-needed return to run-scoring, smashing an unbeaten 110 off 66 deliveries, while Rizwan scored 88* off 51 balls in a chasing masterclass at the National Stadium.
Thanks to their knock, Pakistan have levelled the seven-match series 1-1 after England had registered a six-wicket win in the first game at the same venue.
En route to their opening stand, the duo of Babar and Rizwan also forged a world record as they surpassed India's star openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan. The Indian duo held the record for highest partnership runs in T20Is (1743); however, Babar and Rizwan went past them in the second match of the series.
Following the end of the game, the Pakistan duo reached 1929 opening partnership runs in T20Is, and it's safe to say they're not stopping anytime soon. Here is the list of most runs as opening duo in the shortest format of the game (international T20s)
- Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan) - 1929
- Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan (India) - 1743
- Kevin O'Brien and Paul Stirling (Ireland) - 1720
- KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma (India) - 1660
- Kyle Coetzer and George Munsey (Scotland) - 1577
Following the end of the game, the Pakistan duo reached 1929 opening partnership runs in T20Is, and it's safe to say they're not stopping anytime soon. Here is the list of most runs as opening duo in the shortest format of the game (international T20s)
- Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan) - 1929
- Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan (India) - 1743
- Kevin O'Brien and Paul Stirling (Ireland) - 1720
- KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma (India) - 1660
- Kyle Coetzer and George Munsey (Scotland) - 1577
Among the above-mentioned pairs, only Rahul and Rohit are the other active opening duos; while Dhawan is still an active international player, he has remained out-of-favour for T20I selection since past few years. Rohit and Dhawan remain India's first-choice opening pair in the ODIs, however.
Pakistan will return for the third T20I of the series against England later tonight, while Rohit and Rahul will also be seen in action in the second T20I of the series against Australia – also scheduled to be played tonight in Nagpur.