CENTURION: Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam achieved multiple milestones during the second T20I of the three-match series against South Africa here at the SuperSport Park on Friday.
Babar, who scored a brisk 31 off just 20 deliveries, completed 14,000 international runs across formats and became just the fifth Pakistani batter to achieve the landmark.
As a result, the right-handed batter joined elusive list, featuring country’s greats like Javed Miandad, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan.
Most international runs for Pakistan:
Inzamam-ul-Haq – 202580 runs in 551 innings
Younis Khan – 17790 runs in 491 innings
Mohammad Yousuf – 17300 runs in 432 innings
Javed Miandad – 16213 runs in 407 innings
Babar Azam – 14029 runs in 338 innings
Furthermore, the right-handed batter also became the fastest batter to amass 11,000 runs in T20s, surpassing legendary batter Chris Gayle. He is also the quickest to 7,000, 9,000 and 10,000 runs in the shortest format.
Babar achieved the milestone in just 298 innings, 16 fewer than Gayle, who took 314 innings.
The right-handed batter is just the second Pakistani batter after Shoaib Malik to achieve the landmark and the 11th overall.
The feat placed him level with legendary batters like Gayle, Kieron Pollard, Alex Hales, Virat Kohli, David Warner, Jos Buttler, Rohit Sharma, Aaron Finch, James Vince and compatriot Malik.
Furthermore, his 31-run knock in the aforementioned fixture also propelled him to complete 26,000 runs in professional cricket.
Faizan Lakhani Faizan Lakhani is Deputy Editor (Sports) at Geo News.- Babar Azam
