Rizwan made his
One Day International (ODI) debut for Pakistan
against Bangladesh in April 2015, scoring 67 runs off 58 balls. He made his
Twenty20 International debut for Pakistan in the same series. He made his
Test debut for Pakistan
against New Zealand on 25 November 2016. He was out for a
golden duck in his maiden Test innings. In August 2018 he was one of the 33 players awarded a central contract for the 2018–19 season by the
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). He captained Pakistan's team in the
2018 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup. Pakistan reached the semi-finals. He scored his maiden century against
Australia, in March 2019, with an innings of 115 runs. In November 2019, Rizwan was recalled to the Pakistan team
against Sri Lanka. He was also selected
against Australia later that month, where in the first innings of the First Test it was debated as to whether he was given out on a
no ball, he scored 95 runs in the second innings. In June 2020, he was named in a 29-man squad for Pakistan's
tour to England during the
COVID-19 pandemic. However, on 23 June 2020, Rizwan was one of seven players from Pakistan's squad to test positive for COVID-19. In July, he was shortlisted in Pakistan's 20-man squad for the Test matches against England. He was named as Pakistan's player of the Test series. In December 2020, Rizwan was named as the captain of Pakistan's Test team for the first match
against New Zealand. He replaced
Babar Azam, who was ruled out due to injury. In the same tour, he was also added to Pakistan's T20I squad against New Zealand. In the 3rd T20I of the series against
New Zealand, Rizwan scored his career-best T20I score of 89 to give Pakistan a win and saved them from getting white-washed by New Zealand. In February 2021, in Pakistan's series
against South Africa, Rizwan scored his first century in Test cricket, with an unbeaten 115 as he was awarded the player of the series. In February 2021, in Pakistan's series
against South Africa, Rizwan scored his first century in T20I cricket, with an unbeaten 104 including 6 boundaries and 7 sixes. He also became the first wicket-keeper batter for Pakistan to score a century in T20I cricket and became only the second
wicket-keeper batter after
Brendon McCullum to score centuries in all three formats of international cricket. He also became only the second Pakistani batter to score a century in T20I cricket after
Ahmed Shehzad and also became the fifth designated wicket-keeper batter to notch a T20I century. In April 2021, during the
third T20I between Pakistan and South Africa he along with Babar Azam had a 197-run partnership for the opening wicket which is also the
highest partnership recorded by a pair for Pakistan for any wicket in T20I cricket. It was also the highest ever partnership for any wicket by a pair in T20I cricket while chasing. In September 2021, he was named in Pakistan's squad for the
2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup. In December 2021, in the third match
against the West Indies, Rizwan became the first batter to score 2,000 runs in
Twenty20 cricket in a calendar year. In September 2022, Rizwan and Babar scored a record T20 cricket partnership of 203 without being dismissed. In October 2023, Rizwan scored an unbeaten century against
Sri Lanka, leading Pakistan to successfully chase a mammoth total of 345 in the
2023 Cricket World Cup. In December 2023 and January 2024, Rizwan participated in Pakistan's tour of Australia. For the first match, he was sidelined for
Sarfaraz Ahmed. After a poor showing by Sarfaraz, he was bought back into the team. In the second match's first innings, he scored 42 off 51, and then a 35 off 62 in the second innings. In the third match's first innings, he scored 88 off 103, and then a 28 off 57 in the second innings. The innings also had a FC against Victoria XI. He made 50 off 70 before
retiring hurt. In May 2024, he participated in Pakistan's tour of Ireland. In the first match, he scored just 1 run before being run out. However, he redeemed himself by scoring 75 off 46, not out in the second match. In the third and final match, he scored 58 off 38. In May 2024, he participated in Pakistan's tour of England. The first match was washed out. In the second match, he was caught out on just the 3rd ball of the innings. The third match was also washed out. In the fourth and final match, he was bowled after scoring 23 runs off 16 balls. In May 2024, he was named in Pakistan's squad for the
2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament. In Pakistan's first match of the tournament, against the
United States, he scored only 9 runs off 8 balls before being seen off by
Saurabh Netravalkar. In that same game, he took the catches of
Steven Taylor and
Monank Patel. In Pakistan's second match of the tournament, against
India, he scored a crucial 31 runs off 44 balls, before being bowled by
Jasprit Bumrah. In Pakistan's third match of the tournament against
Canada, he scored a match winning knock of 53 off 53, not out. In Pakistan's fourth and last match of the tournament against
Ireland, he scored 17 runs off 16 balls. Overall, in the tournament, he scored 110 runs, the 33rd most out of every participant. In August 2024, he scored 171 not out and 51, top-scoring in each innings, in the First Test against Bangladesh at
Rawalpindi cricket stadium. In October 2024, the
Pakistan Cricket Board announced Rizwan as
captain of the
Pakistan national cricket team for the white-ball format of
One Day Internationals and
Twenty20s. In November 2024, during the second ODI
against Australia, Rizwan took six catches to equal the record for the most catches in a single ODI match. ==Awards and recognition==