The two first opened for Pakistan on 11 February 2021 against South Africa and since then have garnered a lot of fame among their fans. The classical and level-headed style of Azam along with Rizwan's aggressive attitude forms a constructive path for the middle order batsmen.
Origins
The word "RizBar" is an acronym of Rizwan and Babar coined together by the fanboys and fangirls of the cricket duo. The word first came into trend after the Pakistan–India encounter in the T20 World Cup 2021.[1][2]
Background
Azam was first selected in the summer camp for Pakistan on 5 May 2014. He made his debut for the national team on 31 May 2015 when he was allowed to play against Zimbabwe in an ODI match, scoring 54 on 60 balls.[3] Azam later made his T20I (7 September 2016) and Test debut (13 October 2016) against England[4] and West Indies,[5] respectively. Azam has scored 88 international fifties and 31 international centuries on different occasions,[6][7][8][9] scoring 107 (117) against New Zealand in the recent occasion.[10] He was also part of the team which won the Champions Trophy 2017.[11][12] Azam became the all format captain of Pakistan on 10 November 2020.[13] He was named as the ICC Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year for 2021 and 2022.[14][15] He was also awarded Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the year 2022.[16] He stepped down as the captain from all three formats on 15 November 2023,[17] but was reinstated in white-ball cricket on 31 March 2024[18][19] only to step down again on 1 October 2024.[20]
Rizwan made his ODI debut on 17 April 2015 against Bangladesh as he scored 67 off just 58 balls.[21] He played his first T20I game against Bangladesh in the same tour on 24 April 2015.[22] It was not until 2016 that Rizwan was allowed to play his debut test against New Zealand on 25 November.[23] Rizwan has a total of 46 international fifties and 6 international centuries to his name.[24] On 18 June 2023, Rizwan was named as the team's vice captain for the test format.[25][26] Rizwan was able to garner ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year for 2021.[27] He was also part of ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year for 2021 and 2022.[28][29]
Opening in T20Is
In the first T20I of the South Africa's tour of Pakistan 2021, Azam opened with Rizwan but couldn't score a single run as he got out on golden duck. Rizwan, though, scored a bashing 104* (64). The pair could only sustain a partnership of 10 runs in the second match as Azam got out early. Haider Ali opened with Rizwan on the third match but after his dismissal, Azam along with Rizwan constructed a partnership of 21 off 16 balls. South Africa lost the series with 2–1 in Pakistan's favour.[30]
Pakistan toured South Africa in April 2021. Both the batsmen scored a partnership of 41 in the first match which helped the team to victory. The second match didn't turned out well for the pair as Rizwan, who opened with Sharjeel Khan, got out on the first ball but the third match was a master win for Pakistan as the pair scored an unbeaten 197 with Azam registering a century. The fourth match proved to be a disaster as well for the pair as the partnership collapsed with Rizwan out on duck. Pakistan, nonetheless, won the series with Azam named as the man of the series.[31][32]
The duo again came in action with Pakistan touring Zimbabwe in April/May 2021. Even though Azam gave way in the first match after getting out on 2, Rizwan emerged out as the man of the match with 82*. The set partnered only 21 runs in the second match as Pakistan lost the match by 19 runs. They again appeared effective with 126 runs off 93 balls, as a result, Pakistan won the series 2–1 while Rizwan was named as the man of the series.[33][34]
On 16 July 2021, the duo held a partnership of a whopping 150 against England. This was their third 100+ partnership. They then scored a 50 in the next match off 34 balls. Both the batsmen again played a decent knock in the third match with a 42 runs partnership but unluckily lost the series to England by 2–1.[35][36]
The Windies welcomed the Pakistani team in July/August 2021 for four T20Is and two test matches but unfortunately rain prevented three of the four T20Is. Sharjeel opened with Rizwan in the second T20I but after his dismissal, Azam and Rizwan scored a joint 67 and helped Pakistan win the match and the series.[37][38]
The duo played two warm-up matches against West Indies and South Africa, compiling a partnership of 36 and 27, respectively.[39][40] Pakistan played its first match against arch-rival India. Azam and Rizwan made history by scoring an unbeaten 152 and defeating India by 10 wickets.[41][42] Immense appreciation and recognition were given to the pair as Pakistan has never defeated India in a World Cup stage match before.[43][44] The duo registered another partnership of 28 runs against New Zealand, defeating them by 5 wickets.[45][46] The duo could only sustain a partnership of 12 against Afghanistan but with an economical innings by Asif Ali, won the match.[47][48] The duo again scored a smacking 113 and 35 against Namibia and Scotland in the fourth and fifth match, respectively.[49][50] This was their fifth 100+ partnership in T20Is. Pakistan remained unbeaten in the group stage but could not qualify for the Final after losing to Australia in the Semi Final even after the duo held a partnership of 71 off 60 balls.[51][52]
Post–World Cup Matches
Pakistan toured Bangladesh in November 2021. Even though Pakistan won all three matches, the pair couldn't list a big score on the board, registering only 16 (16), 12 (15) and 32 (42), respectively.[53][54]
The duo then played against West Indies in December 2021. The duo couldn't score much together in the first two matches again but a massive 158 (91) was made by the partners which helped the team chase down a target of 208. Pakistan won the series 3–0. Rizwan was named as the man of the match and series.[55][56]
On 5 April 2022, Pakistan faced Australia in a one off T20I. The duo again came in handy as they scored 67 runs together. The total wasn't enough for the Australians as they defeated Pakistan by 3 wickets.[57][58]
Pakistan played its first match against India in the Asia Cup. The pair could only make a partnership of 15 with Pakistan later on giving the match to India.[59][60] Though Rizwan scored 78 against Hong Kong, the partnership again collapsed between the pair after just 13 runs.[61][62] Pakistan again played against India in the Super 4 but the partnership failed to score a big ton, only scoring 22. Pakistan, nevertheless, won the match with Rizwan scoring 71.[63][64] They couldn't score runs together in the match against Afghanistan as well. Pakistan defeated Afghanistan thus qualifying for the Final while Afghanistan and India were eliminated.[65][66] Pakistan had its last Super 4 match against Sri Lanka. The duo jointly scored 28 but couldn't defeat Sri Lanka.[67][68] The teams again faced each other in the Final. Both the batsman partnered only 22 runs in the Final and Pakistan was thus defeated by Sri Lanka.[69][70]
Pakistan–England Series
Just after the Asia Cup, England toured Pakistan for 7 T20Is. Azam and Rizwan had a partnership of 85 (57) in the first match. The duo broke records as they scored an unbeaten 203* to chase down a mighty target of 200. Rizwan scored 88 (51) while Azam had 110 (66) to his name. The pair couldn't do well in the third and fifth match, scoring only 17 together in both the matches but they turned out productive, scoring 97 in the fourth match. Rizwan didn't play in the sixth match as Mohammad Haris was given a chance. Rizwan played the last match but the pair again collapsed with just 5 runs to their name.[71][72][73]
Triseries – Pakistan, Bangladesh and New Zealand
Pakistan played their first match against Bangladesh, defeating them with the partners scoring 52 off 43 balls. They played against New Zealand twice in the second and third match. The duo scored 36 off 29 balls and won the second match but lost the third match with the pair scoring 30 off 26 balls. The pair turned out well in the last match partnering a joint 101 (75), defeating Bangladesh. Pakistan went against New Zealand in the final and with great teamwork, defeated them. The pair could only hold a partnership of 29 off 26 balls.[74][75]
Pakistan again played two warm-up matches against England and Afghanistan. The pair didn't play against England while the match against Afghanistan was affected due to rain stopping the pair at only 19 (16).[76][77] Pakistan played their first World Cup match against India. The duo collapsed early while India took the match away from the Pakistanis in a last over thriller.[78][79] The duo again collapsed in their match against Zimbabwe, scoring only 13 (21). The team also performed poorly with Zimbabwe winning by 1 run.[80][81] Pakistan won their third match against Netherlands with the pair sustaining only 16 (12).[82][83] Both the batsmen again gave substandard performance against South Africa with a partnership of 4 (4).[84][85] They played back in their match against Bangladesh with a 57 (63) partnership[86][87] but gained their actual form back in the Semi Final, defeating New Zealand with 105 (76) standoff.[88][89] The final didn't turn out as expected for the duo as well as the team. Pakistan lost the Final to England. The pair jointly scored 29 (26) which wasn't enough to fight off the favourites.[90][91]
Post–World Cup Matches
On 14 April 2023, the New Zealand toured Pakistan for 5 T20Is and 5 ODIs. Pakistan won the first match but the pair scored a partnership of only 14 off 12 balls. The duo made a fierce comeback, scoring a joint 99 off 64 balls with Azam scoring a century. They again couldn't continue with their well-to-do form and collapsed at 6 (11). Even though the fourth game was washed-out, the pair scored 51 off 34 in their last game with Rizwan missing his century by just 2 runs. Pakistan lost the last match, tying the series 2–2.[92][93]
On 12 January 2024, Pakistan toured New Zealand for 5 T20Is. In the first four matches, Saim Ayub opened with Rizwan instead of Babar but after getting out early in all 4 matches both the batsmen scored 30 off 19, 2 off 4, 39 off 28, and 51 off 31 respectively. In the last match, Rizwan opened with Haseebullah Khan but after Haseeb's untimely wicket, scored 53 off 56 balls with Babar. Unfortunately, Pakistan lost the series by 4-1.[94][95]
RizBar Fandom
The RizBar Fandom or also colloquially referred to as "RizBaristan" (RizBar + istan) by the fans, is a term used for fans of Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam.[96] The duo gained massive popularity after the T20 World Cup 2021.[97][98] The duo trended on Twitter after defeating India in the World Cup stage. The duo again trended on Twitter after Pakistan's win against New Zealand in the Semi Final of T20 World Cup 2022. Millions of fans all around the world cherish the two batsmen for their style of playing.[99] According to stats provided by the ICC, Rizwan and Azam have scored more than 3200 runs together in T20Is in the span of just 5 years,[100] making them the world's best opening pair in T20I cricket history.[101]
