Former Pakistan cricketer Rashid Latif has heaped praise on the dynamic duo of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. Both batters have been in a rich vein of form lately and played a huge role in uplifting the team’s stature in international cricket.
Recently, the Men in Green affected a T20I series whitewash against West Indies at home. In the final face-off, Pakistan completed their highest run-chase in the shortest format of the game, chasing down a mammoth 208-run target. Rizwan played a fiery knock of 87 runs off just 45 deliveries while his opening partner and captain, Babar, contributed with a 53-ball 79.
They put a 158-run partnership for the first wicket which was also the fourth 150-plus opening stand in 2021. It’s their second-highest partnership in T20Is after a magnificent 197-run stand against South Africa earlier this year.
Rashid was delighted by the performance of both batters. Speaking with PTV Sports, the former cricketer compared the duo with their Indian counterparts.
“About a year ago, we used to say that Pakistan doesn’t have players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma or KL Rahul, especially in T20 cricket. But I think, after some time, Indians will also say that we don’t have players like [Mohammad] Rizwan and Babar [Azam],” said Latif on PTV Sports.
“Earlier, we also had our reservations about their scoring rate but they made up for it by pacing their innings perfectly,” he further stated.
Meanwhile, Rizwan became the first batsman ever to score 2000 T20I runs in a calendar year. Whereas for Babar, it was his 20th 50-plus score in T20 cricket in this calendar year, the most by any cricketer.
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