With their 5th century partnership, the pair now has more century partnerships in T20Is than any other pair, surpassing the 4 partnerships posted by Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan, and by Martin Guptill and Kane Williamson.

Babar and Rizwan now have the 6th highest partnership runs in T20Is and they have got there in only 19 innings.

The pair's average of 63 is far beyond any other pair's average.

Their highest partnership of 197 is the 4th highest partnership in all T20Is.

Babar and Rizwan truly are a golden pair and together they have taken Pakistan's T20 cricket to new heights.

Everyone knows that Babar Azam is a superstar and currently one of the best all format batsman in the game. He, along with Virat Kohli, are the only two batsmen in the world that are among the top 7 of the ICC batsmen rankings for each format.

And Babar is number 1 in both T20Is and ODIs.

Babar is the most consistent batsman in the T20 format; however, it is Mohammad Rizwan, who is going through a dream run currently.

In 2021, Rizwan has scored more T20I runs than any other batsman in a calendar year, and that too at a bradmanesque average, which has only been matched by Kohli (in 2016).

No other batsman has even averaged 50 in T20Is in a calendar year (min 500 runs).

Yesterday against Namibia, Rizwan posted his 9th fifty in T20Is this year, which is also the most fifties any batsman has hit in this format in a calendar year.

Before 2021 ends, Rizwan will undoubtedly become the first batsman in history to knock 1,000 runs in T20Is in a single year!

With an unbeaten knock of 79 last night, Rizwan created another T20I record - he now has the highest T20I batting average in the world.

Rizwan is on the verge of another world record.

He needs 4 more runs to equal Chris Gayle's record of scoring the most runs in all T20 Cricket in a calendar year!

He went past the run tallies of Babar and Kohli during his knock yesterday.

A year, in which, Rizwan is breaking records held by legends like Kohli and Gayle, is nothing short of a phenomenal dream.

Rizwan is truly living the dream and he is growing with stature with every match. With Babar he has created a magnificent opening partnership for Pakistan, and individually he is undoubtedly the key man for Pakistan in T20Is currently!

Will Sarfaraz Ahmed remain captain of Pakistan or not?

Sarfaraz has left the decision in the hands of the PCB, and the board has some time on its hands to make this decision considering Pakistan's next series is not till October.

There is divided opinion among cricket experts and fans regarding the future of Sarfaraz' future as Pakistan captain.

I believe that PCB should let him continue for the next 15 months at the least, till the World T20 in October 2020.

My foremost reason for this decision is that over the next 15 months, Pakistan's focus is going to shift from ODIs to T20Is in preparation for the World T20. Given Pakistan's current number one ranking in T20Is, which has been achieved under Sarfaraz, there is no reason to change the captain.


And we all know that for the sake of harmony and unity in the team, Pakistan is best served by one captain across all formats.

Here's a look at the cricket that Pakistan will play over 12 months starting October 2019.

October - November 2019
vs Sri Lanka at home (UAE)
2 Tests, 3 ODIs, 3 T20Is

November - December 2019
vs Australia in Australia
2 Tests, 3 T20Is

January - February 2020
vs Bangladesh at home (UAE)
2 Tests, 3 T20Is

August 2020
vs Netherlands in Netherlands
3 ODIs

August - September 2020
vs England in England
3 Tests, 3 T20Is

September 2020
vs Ireland in Ireland
2 T20Is

September 2020
Asia Cup T20 in UAE
T20Is vs Ind, SL, BAN, AFG, UAE

October 2020
vs South Africa in South Africa
3 ODIs, 3 T20Is

October 2020
World T20 in Australia

That is a total of 9 Test Matches, 9 ODIs, and as many as 20-22 T20Is!

With the focus shifting from ODIs to T20Is, Pakistan can take a break from trying to figure out its ODI team and focus on the next big challenge ahead - The ICC World T20.

Under Sarfaraz Ahmed in T20Is, Pakistan have been on a record breaking winning streak.

There is no need to change the captain or the team in that format.

Pakistan can even think about giving Sarfaraz a break from some ODIs, for example the ones against Netherlands before the England tour, and give someone like Imad Wasim some more experience of captaining the ODI team.

But there is absolutely no need to change the captain right now.

Not till the World T20 at least.

Pakistan's victory in the Champions Trophy has brought so much joy to Pakistanis in all corners of the world that even two days later we can't stop talking about it. It is such a historic moment that everyone is talking of Ramzan miracles, making analogies to past World Cup wins and Pakistan-India encounters, and simply expressing their elation.

The final was so good that it almost felt like a dream. As Ahmer Naqvi described it, we were truly transported back to the 90s when such victories over India used to be the norm.


Rehan Ul Haq went a step further and said that this was redemption for Bangalore. It truly was!

And the best of them all, Osman Samiuddin, tried to make sense of every thing that happened. And even he admits that not much sense can be made out of what Pakistan did.


There are so many articles on the internet that it is impossible to mention all of them, but one writer that deserves a mention and an award for describing the way Pakistanis feel during their team's matches and their team's fluctuating fortunes in a tournament is Jarrod Kimber. I don't know any non-Pakistani who can describe our feelings that way Jrod does. What am I saying, he describes them better than we do ourselves!

If you have not read the master pieces by Jrod during the Champions Trophy, you can find them all here.

While all these analogies to past Pakistan vs India encounters and "Haal" are apt, the best message I received talking about similarities between the ICC Finals Pakistan has played over the years was:

1992: in Ramzan
1999: in England
2007: in Ramzan
2009: in England
2017: in Ramzan in England

Deadly!

For me, this victory over India wiped away all the heartbreaks, particularly Bangalore, Johannesburg, and Mohali.

It truly is redemption for all of Pakistan's fans.

1992, 2009, and 2017 will forever be engraved in our memories and for those like me who have watched each of those finals ball-by-ball, what a time to be alive!

After seeking an extension of two days from the ICC, Pakistan finally announced their squad for the Asia Cup T20 and World T20, which will follow the ongoing Pakistan Super League.

The PSL gave the selectors a chance to judge some of the relatively lesser known cricketers, and also monitor the form of the some international players who had not impressed in recent times, namely Ahmed Shehzad, Umar Gul, Sohaib Maqsood, and Mohammad Rizwan.

The squad, sans the four players mentioned above, contains surprises aplenty. Here's a look at why these four were dropped and what their replacements - Babar Azam, Khurram Manzoor, Mohammad Nawaz, and Rumman Raees - have done to earn a call to the international T20 team.

OUT: Ahmed Shehzad
Afridi's blue eyed boy could not maintain his place in the side after a prolonged period of indifferent form. In his last 8 T20 innings against Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, England, and New Zealand, he produced scores of 7, 17, 7, 28, 4, 16, 9, 8. To top that of, his form in ODIs during the same period was nothing to write home about.

His 71 off 46 deliveries against the Karachi Kings in the PSL might have nudged the selectors a bit; however his other 3 innings of 11, 16, and 15 would have further reduced his stock.

IN: Khurram Manzoor
He has never played a T20 International for Pakistan; however his domestic T20 record - an average of 29 and a strike rate of 116 - is quite impressive. He also boasts 2 centuries in the format, something not many other batsmen around the world can stake claim to. Despite this, his inclusion is a bit perplexing given that he was not picked by any of the PSL teams and he hasn't played a T20 match since September last year!

He did impress in the Haier Mobile T-20 Cup in September last year where he was the 4th highest run scorer in the competition, but there were other batsmen that were more impressive in that tournament; namely Faisal Mubashir, Fawad Alam, Khalid Latif, Kamran Akmal, Mukhtar Ahmed, Nasir Jamshed, and several others.

OUT: Sohaib Maqsood
With an average of 13 and a highest score of 37, Sohaib has always looked out of place in a T20 line up. It was surprising to see him in the squads for the series against England and New Zealand. He has been on the sidelines of his PSL team as well, so it is no surprise to see the axe finally fall on him.

IN: Babar Azam
It was high time that the selectors included him in the T20 squad. He has an outstanding domestic record in all formats of the game and he has had a supremely impressive start to his ODI career hitting 5 fifties in only 9 ODIs. An average of over 45 and and a strike rate of over 90 in ODIs suggest that he can translate that form into T20s easily. His domestic T20 average is over 40!

Definitely the right choice!

OUT: Mohammad Rizwan
He is a bit unlucky to miss out considering he hasn't had too many chances to impress. He has done reasonably well in the ODIs he has played; however he played only 4 of the 6 T20s he could have against England and New Zealand. Sure his scores of 6, 24, and 4 in those games were nothing great, but he just didn't get enough chances to prove himself. Even in the PSL he has had only 2 innings scoring 37 and 4. His domestic T20 record is awesome and he is a livewire in the field. Pakistan may have missed a trick by leaving him out of their squad.

IN: Mohammad Nawaz
He has been the find of the PSL. His left-arm spin has earned him the highest tally of wickets in the PSL thus far - 8 in 4 games at an average of 11! The best part about this is that he is primarily a batsman and he has been in fine form for the Quetta Gladiators. He will always be remembered as the find of the first ever PSL that was staged. For him, it came at just the right time. He deserves his place in the squad.

OUT: Umar Gul
He returned from injury after 8 months for the T20 series against New Zealand but failed to impress in the two matches that he played. His form in the PSL has also been indifferent - he has picked up 4 wickets at an average of 35 in the 4 matches that he has played and he has conceded 10 runs an over! It would have been extremely difficult to justify his inclusion in the squad no matter how good his past performances in T20.

IN: Rumman Raees
As if Pakistan did not have enough left arm pacers! It is interesting to see Rumman in the squad ahead of more seasoned campaigners like Gul and Junaid Khan. He has not set the PSL on fire, and he doesn't seem to have the pace to trouble international batsmen; however his impeccable line and length and intelligent variations make him a very economical bowler in T20s. His economy rate in the PSL is only 4.40 and that is what probably impressed the selectors.


Who would have bet on Pakistan announcing a squad with as many as 5 rookies! Check out the odds on Betfred.

The reason I did not mention Iftikhar Ahmed above is because he has been in the T20 squad for the past few series without playing a game. He has had an outstanding domestic season and it would not have been justifiable to drop him without playing him.

I can understand the reasons to drop Shehzad and Gul, but I can't understand the reasons to select Khurram and Rumman. They latter two might be promising players, however a World Cup is not the place to test them. I probably would have stuck with Shehzad and Gul given their experience, but if they had to be replaced then their were better options like Mukhtar, Fawad, and Junaid out there.

Nawaz and Babar definitely deserve their call ups to the international T20 side and it would have been better had the selectors only opted for these two rookies.

There are as many as five players who have never played a T20 international for Pakistan in their World T20 squad, which makes it extremely inexperienced for a world event!

It is good that there will be an Asia Cup T20 just before the World T20 so Pakistan will get the time to figure out their best XI.

World Cup 2007, World T20 2009, World Cup 2011, World T20 2012 ...

The winners of these four World Tournament have one thing in common. They all beat Sri Lanka to win the title.

Today, Sri Lanka will play their 5th final in a World Tournament in the past 7 years. That is an unbelievable tournament.

No other team has featured in so many finals in such a short period of time. No other team has a better record than Sri Lanka does in World T20 matches, where their success percentage is second to none.

Yet, they do not have a world title to boast of.

Tonight will be their 5th attempt and probably their best chance to make it right. Sri Lanka have been in stationed in Bangladesh since the end of January. Barring the loss to England (read Alex Hales), Sri Lanka have won everything in Bangladesh over the past 10 weeks: the test series 1-0, ODI series 3-0, T20I series 2-0, Asia Cup title without losing a match, World T20 group games and semi final.

However, all this will count for little when they take the field against India, a team that has been on a roll in this World T20 tournament.

India have dominated this World T20 winning all their games in convincing fashion.

It is no doubt going to be a tough contest as Sri Lanka try to overcome their final syndrome and India aim to become the holders of the all three limited overs ICC titles - World Cup, Champions Trophy, and World T20.

MS Dhoni is the only captain in the world who has held all three titles, and tonight he will want to become the only captain to hold all three titles at the same time.

On the other side, Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara will want to ensure that they hang up their boots as at least one time World title holders.

Jayawardene is the leading run scorer in all World T20 matches and the second highest run scorer in World T20 internationals. It is more than likely that he will end his T20I career in those positions as well.

There is absolutely no doubt about the impact that players like Dhoni and Jayawardene have on their respective teams.

Do you know how to measure this impact?

There's a new cool app in town that enables you to measure the impact a player has made in a T20 game. The new app is called 'Zip Factor' and it has been developed by Castrol Activ Scooter.

Harsha Bhogle and Rahul Dravid recently spoke about measuring the impact of a player in a T20 game and introduced the Zip Factor, which takes into account batting, bowling, and fielding efforts of players and determines their overall impact.

The following table illustrates how the Castrol Active Scooter Zip Factor works.

It was 2010, Pakistan were the defending T20 Champions, and they were up against Australia in the semi final of the 3rd edition of the ICC World T20 in St. Lucia, West Indies.

Pakistan were one of the favorites to win the title and repeat their 2009 win, and they looked well on their way to a third straight final after posting 191-6 in their 20 overs.

191.

That is the exact same score that Pakistan managed in today's world T20 group game against Australia.

In 2010, it was the Akmal brothers, each of whom managed a 50, who set up Pakistan for a big total.

Today, it was also the Akmal brothers who put together a 96 run partnership to bring Pakistan back into the game after they were 25-2 in 4 overs.

In 2010, Pakistan were well on course to make it to their third straight World T20 final when they had Australia reeling at 105-5 after 12 overs.

But then Cameron White and Mike Hussey went on a wild rampage to give Australia an unlikely win, reaching their target with 1 ball to spare after Hussey smashed three sixes of Ajmal in the final over of the chase.

Saeed Ajmal has gone on record to say that he still thinks about that final over. No one has ever treated Ajmal the way Hussey did in that 2010 semi final.

Till Glen Maxwell today.

Australia started on their chase of 192 today in the worst possible manner, losing both Warner and Watson in the first over of the Australian innings to Zulfiqar Babar, who gave Pakistan the ideal start.

From there Glen Maxwell and Aaron Finch proceeded to destroy Pakistan's bowling, including the magician Saeed Ajmal, hitting him for 25 runs off his first two overs.

While Maxwell and Finch continued to score at over 12 an over, the ghosts of St. Lucia came back to haunt the Pakistan team and the fans.

They put on 118 runs in just 10.4 overs as Maxwell smashed every bowler to all corners of the park. His onslaught also included a 30 run over off Bilawal Bhatti.

When Maxwell departed, Australia were left with only 66 runs to get off 50 deliveries with 7 wickets in hand.

From there, it should have been a walk in the park.

In 2010, it was over number 12 that turned the tide in Australia's favor. Today, it was also over number 12 that turned the tide; but this time in Pakistan's favor as they finally slayed the ghosts of St. Lucia.