The year 2021 will end in a few days, taking along all the good and bad memories that must have taught us many things and will certainly help us in turning the next year into a more fruitful one. Pakistan cricket team finished the year 2021 ranked fifth in Test, sixth in One-day Internationals and third in Twenty20.

The Greenshirts started the year with a win against South Africa and ended the year by winning the Twenty20 series against West Indies in Karachi 3-0.

Overall the year 2021 was good for Greenshirts, especially in T20. Skipper Babar Azam and wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Rizwan were the main contributors to the team's successes.

During the year, Pakistan played 29 matches in the shortest format and won 20 - the most by any team. They lost six while three ended with no result.

The Men in Green played seven bilateral T20 series, and won six - against South Africa, Zimbabwe, West Indies and Bangladesh. They only lost to England.

Pakistan also won all group matches in the T20 World Cup - against India, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Namibia and Scotland. They lost the semi-final against Australia in a thriller.

The 10-wicket win over arch-rival India in the Twenty20 World Cup in the UAE was the biggest victory by Pakistan in terms of wickets.

Pakistan team scored 4020 runs in the T20 format which is the most by any team. Our batsmen hit 147 sixes and 347 boundaries.

Babar and Rizwan shared six century partnerships, breaking the record of India's Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul who have provided five century partnerships to India.

Rizwan became the first cricketer to score 2,000 T20 runs in a calendar year. He ended the year with 2,036 runs, which included 18 fifties and a hundred.

In his 2,036 T20 runs this year he scored 1,326 runs in T20Is, the most by a cricketer in a calendar year. He had an outstanding average of 73.66 and strike rate of 134.89. His runs tally included 12 fifties, most by a player this year.

Babar became the first player to score 50 or more runs 20 times in overall T20 cricket in a calendar year. Babar finished the year 2021 with 939 T20I runs. Babar and Rizwan took 16 and 22 catches, respectively.

After scoring 0 and 7 in the first two T20Is against West Indies at home, Babar had slipped to second position but a 53 off 79 balls in the final game took him back to the top, tied on points with Dawid Malan.

Fast bowlers dominated the T20 format for Pakistan in 2021. Hasan Ali and Haris Rauf took 25 wickets each, averaging 19.28 and 25.48, respectively.

It was also a good year in Test matches as Pakistan played nine matches in five series, won seven and lost 2. They lost to New Zealand 0-2, won against South Africa 2-0, Zimbabwe 2-0 and Bangladesh 2-0. The Test series in the West Indies ended in a 1-1 draw.

Opener Abid Ali scored 695 runs for Pakistan, averaging 49.64 with two centuries and two fifties. His highest score was 215 not out against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club.

Fawad Alam (571) and Azhar Ali (549) were just behind him. Fawad scored three hundreds and two half-centuries. Azhar managed one century and three fifties.

Fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi was the most successful bowler for Pakistan in Test cricket. He took 47 wickets in 9 Tests, averaging 17.06. Hasan Ali was behind him with 41 wickets, averaging 16.07.

Pakistan played only six ODIs this year, 3 against South Africa and 3 against England. Pakistan won the ODI series in South Africa 2-1, but were whitewashed 0-3 in England.

Babar scored 405 runs, averaging 67.50 with a strike rate of 108. He scored two centuries and one fifty. Haris took 13 wickets, averaging 24.46.

Former Pakistan captain and renowned commentator Ramiz Raja was elected unopposed as the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board on September 13, 2021, for three years.

After Ramiz took over, head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis quit their positions - with the T20 World Cup less than one month away. Both still had a year each left in their contracts after being appointed in September 2019.

Ramiz faced a hard time as New Zealand withdrew from their tour due to a "security threat" and later the English Cricket Board (ECB) also cancelled England's scheduled tour of Pakistan for two T20Is in mid-October.

Former England captain David Gower said he was "sorry" that England had to pull out of the tour.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) appointed former spin great Saqlain Mushtaq as an interim head coach for the T20 World Cup.

The board also roped in Australian batting great Matthew Hayden as a batting consultant and South African Vernon Philander as a bowling consultant.

Later, the board continued with Saqlain as head coach on the tour of Bangladesh and for the series against West Indies in Pakistan.

Under Saqlain, the Greenshirts won all five group matches in the T20 World Cup, beat Bangladesh in the T20 series 3-0 and also won both Test matches.

In the last series of the year, Pakistan whitewashed West Indies in the Twenty20 series, but the ODI series which was scheduled from December 18-22 was postponed after several of the touring players tested positive for Covid-19.

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