Pak vs SA: Mohammad Rizwan thankful to Almighty after record performance in first T20

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Pakistan´s Mohammad Rizwan celebrates after scoring a century (100 runs) during the first Twenty20 cricket match between Pakistan and South Africa at the Gaddafi Cricket Stadium in Lahore on February 11, 2021. -AFP

KARACHI: In-form Mohammad Rizwan thanked the Almighty on Friday after he helped Pakistan win the first T20 against South Africa at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.

Mohammad Rizwan took to Twitter and shared a verse of the Holy Quran from Surah Ar-Rahman, “So which of the favours of your Lord would you deny?”

Rizwan has been receiving praise for his responsible innings in the series opener without which Pakistan could not have gone 1-0 in the T20I series against South Africa.

He became the first-ever Pakistani wicket-keeper to score a century in T20Is and also the second wicket-keeper batsman in the world to score a 100 in all three formats of international cricket.

Read more: Pakistan beat South Africa by three runs in 1st T20I

The 28-year old cricketer scored an unbeaten 104 off 64 deliveries in the match. His innings included 7 sixes, which is the highest by a Pakistani batsman in T20Is. The previous record was held by Mohammad Hafeez and Ahmed Shahzad, both of whom had smashed 6 sixes in an innings on different occasions.

He also posted a highest individual score in T20Is by a Pakistani wicket-keeper batsman, surpassing Sarfaraz Ahmed who had earlier scored 89* against Scotland at Edinburgh in 2018.

Rizwan is also the first Pakistani wicket-keeper and the only 2nd cricketer after Ahmed Shahzad to post a three-figure T20I score against his name.

Read more: Pakistan vs South Africa Head to Head in T20Is

He is also the only second wicket-keeper batsman in the world after Kiwi cricketer Brendon McCullum to score centuries in all three formats as a designated wicket-keeper. Overall, he’s the 5th wicket-keeper batsman to score T20I century in the world.

The Pakistani wicket-keeper batsman has now eight scores of 50 or more (including two 100s), across all three formats in international cricket, since the start of January 2020.