Babar Azam reached the milestone of 3000 runs in T20 Internationals, becoming the fifth player among men to do so and the eighth overall. He also achieved it the fastest, together with Virat Kohli.
Babar Azam, Record-Breaking Machine
With his half-century against England in the sixth T20I of the seven-match series, the captain of Pakistan became the first player to score 3000 T20I runs. Babar Azam was expected to lead the Pakistani innings because Mohammad Rizwan was not playing in this game.
Captian Leading from Front
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As Pakistan lost a few early wickets in the Power play, the captain responded by taking on the role of anchor. Within the first six overs, Babar Azam advanced to 25 from 19 balls and recorded his 29th fifty-plus score in the format.
After reaching his half-century in 41 balls and finishing undefeated on 87 off 59 balls, he picked up the pace in the final overs. Babar Azam’s late aggressiveness enabled Pakistan to reach 169/6 in their 20 overs on Friday in Lahore.
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Babar joins an exclusive group of T20I batsmen who have scored 3,000 runs. With more than 3000 runs combined, the Indian combo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli leads the men’s T20I run total. The other members of the group are Paul Stirling and Martin Guptill.
However, Babar equaled Virat Kohli’s record for the format with 3000 runs in 81 innings. The only two batters to accomplish the feat in fewer than 100 innings are Kohli and Azam. Suzie Bates, Meg Lanning, and Stafanie Taylor have amassed more than 3000 runs in women’s T20Is. Babar is currently the eighth player in T20Is to reach the milestone.
Mohammad Hafeez, who has scored 2514 runs, is the next Pakistani hitter on the list, followed by Bismah Maroof, who has scored 2388 runs. Outside of these three Pakistanis, Shoaib Malik and Rizwan are the only other players with more than 2000 T20I runs.