PAK vs IRE: Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan create partnership record in T20Is

Pakistan’s white-ball captain Babar Azam and wicketkeeper batter Mohammad Rizwan bagged a unique record during the third T20I against Ireland in Dublin.

Babar and Rizwan, widely considered one of the greatest batting pairs in T20Is, continued their impeccable performances as a duo and became the first pair to score 3,000 partnership runs.

While doing so, they also became just the first batting pair to have 10-century stands. The closest to them is India’s pair of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul with five-century partnerships.

In T20Is, Babar remains the batter to participate in 17th-century stands, which is the most. Meanwhile, this was the 13th Rizwan was a part of a century partnership.

By the time this story was filed, Rizwan lost his wicket to Mark Adair after scoring 56 on 38 runs courtesy of seven boundaries. Babar Azam was on the crease with Azam Khan with Pakistan needing 24 runs to win the match.

Remember, Ireland concluded their innings by posting 178/7 in 20 overs. Shaheen Shah Afridi was Pakistan's MVP with the ball as the left-armer only conceded 14 runs while taking three wickets in four overs.

It is worth mentioning that Ireland started the series brilliantly by recording a five-wicket win in the first T20I as the home side dominated the visitors. However, Pakistan made an excellent comeback in the second T20I as they chased down the 194-run target within 17 overs.

Playing XIs

Pakistan: Babar Azam (c), Saim Ayub, Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman, Azam Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Shaheen Afridi, Hassan Ali, Abbas Afridi, Mohammad Amir

Ireland: Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Andrew Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (c & wk), Ben White, Craig Young