Pakistan have become the first international cricket team to register 18 T20I wins in a calendar year, breaking their previous record of 17 victories in the year 2018 under the captaincy of Sarfaraz Ahmed.

The Greenshirts reached this milestone with a comprehensive 63-run win over West Indies in the first T20I of the three-match series in Karachi.

Pakistan cricket team has been in supreme form this year under the new skipper Babar Azam. The Men in Green have won 10 of their last 11 matches, including the one against India in the T20 World Cup opener, where they defeated the arch-rivals by ten wickets. The only defeat came against Australia in the semi-final of the mega event.

Rizwan, Haider help Pakistan thump West Indies in first T20I

Following a successful T20 World Cup campaign, the Greenshirts whitewashed Bangladesh in three-match T20I series on their home soil and won the first home game against Windies.

Overall, the Babar Azam-led side has won 18 out of the total 27 matches they have played so far this year. They lost only six matches in 2021, while three of their games were abandoned.

The Asian giants have been a dominant force in the shortest international format, as they are also the only team with over 100 wins since the inception of this format.

Most of these wins have been directly credited to flawless opening partnerships between skipper Babar Azam and the wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan.

Afghanistan to host Pakistan for three ODIs in early 2023

Together, the duo has scored over 2,000 runs in the calendar year, with Rizwan amassing a massive 1,201 runs and Babar scoring 853 runs in the ongoing year.

Five series wins

In the year 2021, Pakistan have won five out of six T20I series they played so far. They started the year with a 2-1 series win over South Africa at home and then won the away series 3-1 in South Africa later on. The next series win 2-1 came against Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe.

The only series defeat came against England where they lost it 2-1 in tough English conditions. Three of the four games of the West Indies series were washed out, but Pakistan managed to win the solitary game that could be completed and eventually took the series 1-0. They then white-washed Bangladesh in Bangladesh and look poised to win the home series against West Indies as well.