Babar, Rizwan react after record-breaking opening stand in third T20I

Pakistan’s opening pair of skipper Babar Azam and wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan have opened up after their record-breaking stand in the third Twenty20 International (T20I) against South Africa on Wednesday.

The duo stitched a memorable 197-run opening partnership, which was Pakistan’s highest in the shortest format of the game, to take the side to a crushing nine-wicket victory. The win also helped the Men in Green take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the four-match series.

Speaking after the match, Babar, who scored his maiden T20I century, said that he was waiting for this moment for a long time.      

“I was waiting for such an innings for a long time,” said Babar. “I planned for it, and felt if I got a chance I would grab it. I am thankful that I was able to deliver. I stuck to my strengths and my game plan was developed around team requirements. If you need 10 an over, you definitely have to play with urgency and for that, you have to take risks.”

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He also praised Rizwan, who remained unbeaten on 73 runs off 47 balls, for playing an outstanding innings while fasting.  

“The partnership with Rizwan was outstanding. I give him credit for the way he played because it is really tough to play while fasting and despite that, he batted and kept wicket throughout. It takes a lot of courage and guts. The whole team takes inspiration watching him and it brings us confidence,” he said.

Meanwhile, Rizwan spoke about the importance of winning the first powerplay after being set a daunting target of 204 runs.

“It’s a big win for us. Chasing 200-plus is always a difficult task but the way we got a start it made it easy for us,” said Rizwan. “We had a simple plan to win the powerplay and we did get more runs than they did in the first six. That momentum carried us deeper which brought us success.”

Rizwan also admitted that he enjoys spending time at the crease with Babar despite limited opportunities.

“Since we started playing together, this and the one in Australia [Brisbane Test in 2019] are the only two innings in which we have spent time at the crease together. Otherwise either me or him get out and we never got an opportunity to build a bigger stand. We even in between talked about making a world record and Babar was even more positive than me. When Babar scored his 100, I felt the same joy as if I’d done it myself,” he concluded.

The fourth and final T20I of the series will be played on Friday at Centurion.