Pakistan’s Rizwan completes fastest 3,000 T20I runs

Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan (R) plays a shot during the second Twenty20 international cricket match between Pakistan and New Zealand at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi, on April 20, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 20 April 2024
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Pakistan’s Rizwan completes fastest 3,000 T20I runs

  • Pakistan took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series against New Zealand with the first game washed out
  • This was Rizwan’s 79th Twenty20 innings, beating his skipper Babar Azam and Indian great Virat Kohli

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan became the fastest batsman to complete 3,000 runs in Twenty20 international cricket during the second match against New Zealand in Rawalpindi on Saturday.
The 31-year-old reached the milestone when he reached 19 during his innings of 45 not out which helped Pakistan chase down a modest 91-run target in 12.1 overs for a seven-wicket victory.
This was Rizwan’s 79th Twenty20 innings, beating his skipper Babar Azam and Indian great Virat Kohli who both completed 3,000 runs in 81 T20I innings.
Rizwan is the eighth batsman to score 3,000 or more runs in Twenty20 internationals with Kohli top of the charts with 4,037 in 117 matches.
Pakistan took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series with the first game washed out after just two balls, also in Rawalpindi, on Thursday.


Pakistan urges ‘time-bound and irreversible’ path to Palestinian statehood at UN

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Pakistan urges ‘time-bound and irreversible’ path to Palestinian statehood at UN

  • Pakistan warns the Security Council Israeli settlement expansion has reached its highest level in the West Bank
  • It says Islamabad backs sustained ceasefire, expanded humanitarian access, protection of UNRWA’s role in Gaza

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday called for a time-bound and irreversible political process leading to the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state, urging the international community to move beyond declarations and turn long-standing commitments into concrete action.

Addressing a Security Council briefing on the Middle East, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Nations said repeated diplomatic initiatives had underscored that the status quo was untenable and that only a credible political horizon, grounded in international law, could deliver durable peace.

His remarks came as the Security Council reviewed the implementation of Resolution 2334, which calls on Israel to halt settlement activity in occupied Palestinian territory.

Pakistan said recent diplomatic efforts — including a high-level conference in July and the General Assembly’s endorsement of the New York Declaration reaffirming the two-state framework — had sought to preserve the possibility of a negotiated settlement between Israelis and Palestinians.

It said follow-up meetings at Sharm El-Sheikh, along with US-led initiatives under President Donald Trump aimed at halting the fighting, were intended to reopen a political process toward Palestinian statehood.

“A time-bound and irreversible political process, anchored in relevant UN resolutions must lead to the establishment of a sovereign, independent and contiguous State of Palestine on the basis of pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital,” Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Asim Iftikhar Ahmad told the council.

“It is high time to turn promises into action and speed up this process,” he added.

Ahmad said Pakistan backed Security Council Resolution 2803, which calls for efforts to sustain the ceasefire, expand aid access and restart a political track toward Palestinian statehood.

He said settlement activity in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, had reached its highest levels since the United Nations began systematic monitoring, citing UN findings that more than 6,300 housing units were advanced during the reporting period.

Such actions, he said, had “no legal validity” under international law but continued to undermine the viability of the two-state solution.

Pakistan also defended the role of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), saying it remained indispensable for Palestinian refugees and must not be weakened by what it called unfounded criticism.

Ahmad condemned the storming of UNRWA’s headquarters in East Jerusalem earlier this month, calling it a violation of international law and the inviolability of UN premises, and urged full, safe and unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza, along with the immediate start of reconstruction without annexation or forced displacement.