Talismanic batter Babar Azam and opener Mohammad Rizwan continued their sublime run in the second semi-final between Pakistan and Australia at the ICC World T20 2021 on Thursday. With an aim to secure their berth in the final of the T20 World Cup 2021, Azam's Pakistan squared off against Aaron Finch-led Australia in the penultimate clash of the ongoing ICC T20 World Cup at the Dubai International Stadium.
Asked to bat first in the second semi-final of the T20 World Cup, Azam teamed up with opener Rizwan as the established opening pair of the Green Army took Australian bowlers to the cleaners. Legendary Pakistani pacer Shoaib Akhtar was all praise for the opening duo of Babar and Rizwan for giving Pakistan a promising start in the opening Powerplay.
"Shabash guys for a super powerplay. Keep going guys. Allah himmat day," Akhtar said while praising the batting exploits of Azam and Rizwan in the first six overs of the match at Dubai. While Azam scored 39 off 34 balls, Rizwan played a match-changing knock to help Pakistan set a challenging total.
Pakistan skipper Azam managed to surpass Virat Kohli by becoming the fastest batsman to complete 2,500 runs in the shortest format. The Pakistan opener also holds the record for scoring the most runs in a maiden T20 World Cup. While Azam's bid to register another fifty was thwarted by spinner Azam Zampa in the 10th over, Rizwan completed his half-century in the 14th over.
Rizwan also entered his name in the history books by becoming the first batter to smash 1,000 T20I runs in a calendar year. Before notching up his third half-century in the ICC World T20 2021, Rizwan also holds the record of scoring runs in a calendar year in the T20s.