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The cricketing world saw a brilliant version of the Pakistan Cricket Team in 2021 and T20I, in particular, was a format in which the performance of the team was second to none. In this article, we recall Pakistan T20I Cricket performance in what has been their excellent year.
Pakistan T20I Cricket: Matches / Series Results
| Match Results | Series Result | |
| Played | 29 | 7 |
| Won | 20 | 6 |
| Loss | 6 | 1 |
| No Result/ Drawn | 3 | – |
Pakistan T20I Cricket: Series Review
The campaign in 2021 started with a comfortable home series win against South Africa. The Green Shirts then headed to Africa where their performance first in South Africa (3-1) and then in Zimbabwe (2-1) was nothing short of brilliance. The only T20I series Babar’s men lost was the one against England in July in which the hosts eventually managed to come on top, winning the 3 match series by 2-1.
PCT carried the same splendid form into the T20 World Cup 2021, where the grounds of UAE saw it defeating the likes of India and New Zealand, and topping its group with no losses. While the dream of lifting the World Cup was cut short for Babar Azam’s men due to Wade’s heroics for Australia in the semi-final, the team did end the year with two sweeping series victories; against Bangladesh away and against West Indies at home.
ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021
This edition of the T20 World Cup, hosted by BCCI but held in the UAE due to covid related concerns, was unarguably one of the best ICC events for Pakistan in its cricketing history. The green shirts started the tournament by defeating their arch-rivals India in their first match, breaking PAK’s painful 12-0 loss streak against India in World Cups. The team then went on to win against all of New Zealand, Afghanistan, Namibia, and Scotland, which meant it was the table topper in its group and finished its group matches undefeated.
PAK put up a great fight against Aussies in the semi-final, but Australia managed to clinch the victory and eventually went on to win the World Cup, defeating New Zealand in the final.
They ended the tournament as the third-best team of the tournament with experts praising both Babar’s captaincy and the whole team’s excellent performance.
Pakistan T20I Cricket: Big moments
Pakistan vs India
The highlight of Babar Azam and his men’s splendid run in 2021 T20Is certainly has to be its triumph over India in the much-anticipated clash between the arch-rivals in the T20 World Cup 2021. Shaheen Shah Afridi set the tone for the historic victory early in the first inning by rattling India’s top order. Virat Kohli was the only Indian batter who showed some resistance and helped India get a total of 151.
The second inning proved to be nothing less than a nightmare for the Indian bowlers as the ever-so-dependable opening pair of Babar and Rizwan led Pakistan to a 10 wicket victory. This match is also of utmost importance because the 12-0 winning streak of India against PAK in ICC events was now finally broken.
Pakistan T20I Cricket: Low moments
Loss against Zimbabwe
The 2nd T20I against Zimbabwe in Harare ended up being a forgettable outing for the green shirts as the team had lost against a vastly inferior Zimbabwe side by 19 runs. Zimbabwe managed an unboastful total of 118 in the first inning but their bowlers made sure that the batting lineup was never in a comfortable position while chasing as the team ended up being bundled out for only 99.
The loss against Australia in the semi-final
PAK’s exit from T20 World Cup 2021 was a particularly painful one as Australia, fueled by Mathew Wade’s heroics, knocked them out of the competition in the dying hours of the day in Dubai. The batters posted a competitive total of 176 batting first courtesy fifties by Rizwan and Fakhar. Babar’s bowlers also kept the Aussie batting lineup in check for most of the inning but Wade’s 3 consecutive sixes to Shaheen Shah Afridi after his catch was dropped by Hassan Ali made sure Australia crossed the line.
Pakistan T20I Cricket: Star Performers
Batters
Babar Azam
The classy, run amassing batter again lived up to his hype as the 27-year-old scored 939 runs in 26 innings with an average of 37.56. He achieved the record of most runs scored by a captain in T20Is in a calendar year. Not only that, he scored his first T20I century in April against South Africa which is also the highest individual score by a PAK batter (122). Lastly, he was the top scorer in the T20 World Cup, scoring 303 runs at an average of 60.60.
Mohammad Rizwan
The right-handed wicket-keeper batter showed unreal consistency throughout the year, scoring 1326 runs in 26 innings with an unparalleled average of 73.67. His first T20i century also came in February against Proteas at the iconic Gaddafi Stadium. His T20I batting ranking improved by leaps and bounds, and he’s now placed at number 4 in the ICC Batsmen ranking. He also played a vital role in the team’s T20 World Cup campaign, scoring an aggregate of 281 runs which included the fifties against India and in the semi-final against Australia.
Bowlers:
Shaheen Shah Afridi
No surprise that the left-arm pacer features on this list who is also now the spearhead of the team’s bowling in all 3 formats. He took 23 wickets in the 21 matches he played in 2021. His early wickets in most of the matches helped the Green Team get a strong grip on the game early. His fiery opening spell against India in T20 World Cup 2021 has been announced as the Play of the Tournament. He has also been adjudged the man of the match in the only T20I match won in England this summer.
Shadab Khan
Shadab Khan finally looked at his brilliant best once again after a long period of not-so-glorious performances. The young leg spinner picked up 20 wickets in 18 matches at an average of 19.60 and a superb economy of just 6.64. He was also the highest wicket-taker for PAK in T20 World Cup 2021, as he picked up 9 wickets in 6 matches. This included a brilliant 4/26 bowling performance against Australia in the much-important semi-final.
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