The rise of Rizwan: His top five knocks on the way to No.1 in T20I rankings
Mohammad Rizwan on Wednesday, 7 September became the new No.1 batter in the ICC Men's T20I Player Rankings, thus ending his teammate Babar Azam's 1155-day reign at the top. He became just the third player from Pakistan – after Misbah-ul-Haq and Babar Azam – to reach the T20I summit.
To say that Rizwan's rise over the last two years has been meteoric would still be an understatement – at the end of the Zimbabwe series in November 2020, Rizwan was ranked 306th in the T20I batters rankings. In the 23 T20Is he had played for Pakistan, he had only 185 runs to show, averaging a meagre 16.81 while striking at 96.35. It certainly didn't help that in those matches, Rizwan had batted all positions from No.3 to No.9.
Cut to September 2022, the dashing star reigns supreme in the T20I rankings and is an indispensable part of the Pakistan team. Here, we take a look at the five best T20I innings in the rise of Mohammad Rizwan.
If one had to point to the innings that started Rizwan's ascent, it would be this knock against New Zealand in the final T20I of the series. Injury to Babar Azam ahead of the series prompted Pakistan to promote Rizwan up the order to open the innings. After getting starts and failing to convert them in the first two matches, the wicketkeeper-batter made it count in the final T20I.
Chasing 174, Rizwan was cautious in the first half of the innings, scoring 42 off 34 before teeing off in the next 25 balls, which fetched him 47 runs. Despite wickets falling at the other end in the death, he held his nerve and kept finding the boundaries to keep the required run rate in check.
He was dismissed in the final over but not before bringing Pakistan a hit away from a win. This was Rizwan's first T20I fifty in Pakistan colours and the start of a remarkable run that has extended to this date.
Rizwan proved in his very next T20I match that his knock in Napier wasn't a one-off, following up his 89 with an unbeaten century against South Africa in Lahore.
Batting first, Rizwan had to once again drop anchor as Pakistan lost three wickets in the first half of the innings. Rizwan was barely striking above run-a-ball before he took the attack to Junior Dala with three sixes in the 11th over. He struck a boundary every over for the next four overs. He rode his luck in the penultimate over – a top-edge flew for a six before a dropped catch off the next ball fetched him a four.
He got to his maiden T20I hundred in style with a six and propelled Pakistan to 169/6. The bowlers then held their nerve and clinched a thriller by three runs.
For the second game in a row, Rizwan scored 50+ and was named the Player of the match.
Rizwan continued to be a thorn in the side of the Proteas, this time on the reciprocal tour two months after scoring his century.
Chasing 189, Rizwan was much quicker to get off the block with an 18-ball 26 in the Powerplay. Fakhar Zaman's brilliant 26-run cameo allowed Rizwan to get his eye in and by the time the former departed, Pakistan needed 104 off the last 10.
Rizwan continued in his free-stroking way to a fifty off 34 balls. As Pakistan were cruising along, a double-wicket over from Beuran Hendricks threatened to turn the tide in South Africa's favour. Pakistan needed to go at 13 runs per over in the last four.
Rizwan welcomed Henricks back into the attack with two boundaries and a six to settle the nerves. Although Hasan Ali finished the game off when Pakistan needed 9 off 4, Rizwan batted through till the end to help Pakistan clinch a thrilling win.
It was a memorable day for Pakistan when they beat India for the first time in a World Cup match. At the forefront of the splendid chase was Rizwan, who along with captain Babar, registered a dominating 10-wicket win over their arch-rivals.
He got the ball rolling for Pakistan with a four and a six in the first over against Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The duo thereafter played risk-free cricket, for the most part, occasionally taking on the bowling of India to keep the run rate in check.
Just when the required run rate was creeping to close to 8.5, Rizwan pulled out a stunning sweep to hit Varun Chakravarthy for a six in the 13th over. He soon brought up his fifty with a four off Bumrah.
With 17 needed of 18, Rizwan went gung-ho against Mohammad Shami, picking him apart with two boundaries and a six. Babar hit the winning runs in the same over as Pakistan pulled off one of their most memorable wins in T20Is.
Despite the knock coming in a losing cause, this innings showed that Rizwan was an absolute warrior. Before the semi-final against Australia, he spent two nights in the ICU battling a severe chest infection. But on the day of the semi-final, he walked out for Pakistan and scored a solid fifty.
Rizwan struggled initially to find his touch, but Babar Azam at the other end kept the scoreboard ticking. Soon, a six off Josh Hazlewood in the fifth over got Rizwan up and running in the semi-final. The boundaries were few and far between thereafter but Rizwan, in particular, took a liking to the bowling of Hazlewood, who had a tournament of his life and was Australia's most potent bowler.
He tonked the right-arm quick for another six in the 14th over and brought up his fifty off 41 balls the very next ball. Rizwan picked him apart once again in 17th over with a six and four off consecutive balls. He eventually fell in the next over to Mitchell Starc.
In an interview with ESPNcricinfo, Rizwan revealed that this knock from the sem-final was his favourite of the year.
"The innings against Australia in the semi-final of the ICC T20 World Cup," Rizwan said. "I was facing Josh Hazlewood, who is the toughest bowler. The conditions were not easy, and I was in ICU before the game so it was a different challenge."
"People will say that my knock against India was the best, but I know it was not easy against Australia. They have a better bowling unit and the ball was getting stuck in the pitch. I was not able to play my shots but things improved after a while and I could connect the ball properly."
Rizwan finished 2021 with 1326 runs, the most by any batter in a single calendar year in T20Is. He capped off the excellent year with the ICC Men's T20I Player of the Year Award and there has been no stopping him ever since.