Pak vs NZ: Rizwan surpasses India’s Suryakumar to claim another T20I honour

Star Pakistani batter Mohammad Rizwan was the highest run scorer in T20 internationals last year as well

Mohammad Rizwan became the highest run-scorer in T20 internationals this year, overtaking India’s Suryakumar Yadav with his 15th run against New Zealand during the final of the tri-series Friday.

Yadav scored 801 runs in 23 innings in 2022.

Rizwan was the highest run scorer in T20 internationals last year as well and in 2021 he scored 1,326 runs in 26 innings. He was crowned the ICC Men’s T20I Cricketer of the Year.

The star batter’s achievement comes just a day after he and Babar Azam – Pakistan’s popular opening pair in T20Is – left fans mesmerised with their superb performance against Bangladesh in the T20I tri-series, breaking the partnership record of India’s Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul.

Rizwan and Babar partnered for 100 runs or more for the eighth time in T20Is, which is the most by any pair. During Thursday’s match, they scored 101 runs together after Pakistan were set to chase 174 runs in 20 overs.