Pakistan’s opening partners, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan have been prolific for the country throughout the calendar year. The two batters have piled on runs for Pakistan and have been one of the main reasons behind Pakistan’s success in the shortest format in 2021.
Babar and Rizwan put on another century stand in T20I cricket in the third T20I against West Indies. This was their sixth century stand in T20I cricket, the most by any batting partners in T20I cricket. The duo is followed by Indian pair, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, who have scored five century partnerships in their career.
Babar and Rizwan put on a 158-run stand and led Pakistan to a 3-0 series victory over West Indies. This was Pakistan’s 20th T20I win in the calendar year as they extended their record of most wins in a year. This was also the duo’s fourth 150+ stand, the most by a batting pair. The batting pair’s three out of six century stands have come while chasing, which is also the most by any batting partnership in the world.
Their three 100+ partnerships while chasing have all come in 2021. They put on a 197-run stand against South Africa earlier in the year before following it up with an unbeaten stand of 152 in the T20 World Cup encounter against arch-rivals India.
Overall, Babar and Rizwan have scored 1,473 runs at an average of 56.65 while batting together in T20Is, which is the fifth most for a pair in T20I cricket. The duo has batted together only 27 times in T20I cricket and can become one of the most prolific partnerships in T20I history if they continue like this.
Let’s have a look at the most century stands in T20Is:
| Batting Partners | Innings | Century Stands | Highest Partnership |
| Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan | 27 | 6 | 197 |
| Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul | 27 | 5 | 165 |
| Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan | 52 | 4 | 160 |
| Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson | 30 | 4 | 171* |
| Ben Cooper and Max O’Dowd | 23 | 3 | 144 |
