Before 2021, Mohammad Rizwan, hardly a T20 hero, had scored a combined 313 T20I runs from 26 matches, with one fifty-plus score (right at the end of 2020). 12 months later, he’s played 27 T20Is in 2021, scoring 1,239 runs at 72.88, with a century and 11 fifties to boot.

Such a prolific patch of form is unheard of in T20Is – Rizwan has now scored (by far) the most runs in a calendar year, breaching the 1,000-run mark for the first time in T20I cricket. In second place is his opening partner and skipper Babar Azam, both having crossed Paul Stirling’s tally of 748 runs from 2019. In the process, Rizwan also became the first player to hit 10+ fifties in a year, and also the first to hit 100+ fours in one calendar year. These are plainly ridiculous numbers.

Unsurprisingly, he’s also at the top of the list for most T20 runs in a calendar year, having amassed 1,911 runs so far playing for Pakistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Multan Sultans in 2021.

It’s been an incredible run so far, and it’s unlikely that Rizwan’s tally will be surpassed in the future.

No doubt, the move to make him open the innings has paid rich dividends and unlocked the full potential of a talented stroke-maker with early fielding restrictions in place. Among all batters to feature in 15+ innings in a calendar year, Rizwan’s average of 75.06 is 27 units better than the next best.

The wicketkeeper-batter has two more T20Is to go this year, and, if he plays both, will end up with 29 matches in 2021. Currently, Rizwan is tied at 27 with Babar and Bangladesh’s Afif Hossain for the most T20I appearances in a single year. Of all 34 men’s T20I cricketers to play 20+ games in a year, only two – MS Dhoni and Jasprit Bumrah – belong to a year (2016) that’s not 2021 or 2019. The 2019 batch predominantly belongs to the batch that played in the T20 World Cup Qualifier that year. The volume of T20I cricket this year has been exceptionally high.

That’s also why it’s a feat unlikely to be repeated – the combination of quality and quantity for Rizwan have worked immensely well. It’s unlikely that a player will feature in as many T20Is in the future, given how many T20 leagues run across the year, and how intensely packed the international calendars already are.

The yearly record for most appearances in a single format belongs to Rahul Dravid, who played as many as 43 ODIs in 1999 – a World Cup year – with more matches presumably in place in preparation for the global event. Back then, T20s were still a few years away, and cricket wasn’t used to the frequency of games that is commonplace now. Still, Dravid played 11 games in Toronto, Singapore and Nairobi within the space of 30 days.

A reasonably injury-free Rizwan (even a hospital stay couldn’t stop him) will end up nearing 30 T20Is this year, but it’s unlikely that anyone will come close to the 43-game mark in the future. Pakistan, who did not play more than 20 T20Is in a single year before 2021, have played 27, playing against Zimbabwe, England, West Indies and twice against South Africa before they played their first game at the World Cup. Even after that, they’ve managed to squeeze in series against Bangladesh and West Indies.

The only plausible scope in the future for more T20I games is if the ODI format gets phased out, even though there seems to be no immediate threat to it – there is an ODI World Cup set for 2030, and the format has remained popular despite rumours of its imminent decline. Along with 46 T20s, Rizwan also played six ODIs and nine Tests this year, and this is after the three-ODI series against New Zealand was cancelled. For any reason, if T2o cricket’s elder brother is abolished, that might present a chance for batters to play more T20 games, and come close to Rizwan’s incredible tally.

Nothing, though, can distract us from appreciating just good Rizwan has been this year. The volume of games apart, and beyond all the records, Rizwan has been a revelation at the top, combining with Babar Azam to make for one of modern-day white-ball cricket’s most prolific opening pairings. Given his form, it won’t be outlandish to claim that Rizwan’s biggest competitor for the record is himself.

*All statistics till the second Pakistan-West Indies T20I (December 13).