The RizBar (Urdu: رِضبَر; [rɪz'bər]) is a duo of Pakistani professional cricketers consisting of Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam. Azam serves as the captain and top order batter of Pakistan national cricket team while Rizwan is a wicketkeeper-batter. Both the prolific batsmen, open for the Pakistan national cricket team in the T20Is and are referred to as the world's best opening pair.
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 fans and followers of the cricket duo. The word first came into trend after the Pakistan–India encounter in the T20 World Cup 2021.
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. Azam later made his T20I (7 September 2016) and Test debut (13 October 2016) against England and West Indies, respectively. Azam has scored 82 international fifties and 30 international centuries on different occasions, scoring 107 (117) against New Zealand on the recent occasion. He was also part of the team which won the Champions Trophy 2017. Azam became the all format captain of Pakistan on 10 November 2020. He was named as the ICC Men's ODI Cricketer of the Year for 2021 and 2022. He was also awarded Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for the year 2022.
Rizwan made his ODI debut on 17 April 2015 against Bangladesh as he scored 67 off just 58 balls. He played his first T20I game against Bangladesh in the same tour on 24 April 2015. It was not until 2016 that Rizwan was allowed to play his debut test against New Zealand on 25 November. Rizwan has a total of 41 international fifties and 5 international centuries to his name. On 18 June 2023, Rizwan was named as the team's vice captain for the test format. Rizwan was able to garner ICC Men's T20I Cricketer of the Year for 2021. He was also part of ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year for 2021 and 2022.
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.
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 Shadab 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.
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.
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.
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. Shadab 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.