England and Pakistan are locking horns against each other, for the first time since the T20 World Cup 2022 final, in the first T20I of the four-match series starting from today (May 22). With the T20 World Cup on the horizon, this series is massively important for both teams as the hosts will be looking to defend their World Cup title while Pakistan will be aiming to repeat their heroics from the 2009 edition.
Meanwhile, the captains of two teams, Jos Buttler and Babar Azam, are chasing personal milestones and both of them have a brilliant chance of surpassing India captain Rohit Sharma in different aspects just before the T20 World Cup. Buttler is only 73 runs away from completing 3000 runs in T20Is having amassed 2927 runs in 105 innings so far. He has a chance of becoming the seventh fastest to the landmark if he gets there in next two innings.
Rohit had managed to breach the 3000-run mark in 108 innings during the T20 World Cup 2021 against Namibia. The fastest to 3000 runs in T20I cricket is Pakistan's Mohammad Rizwan having done it in 79 innings while Babar and Virat Kohli are joint-second fastest having surpassed the number in 81 innings each.
Fastest to 3000 T20I runs
Player | Innings taken to reach 3000 runs |
Mohammad Rizwan (Pakistan) | 79 |
Virat Kohli (India) | 81 |
Babar Azam (Pakistan) | 81 |
Aaron Finch (Australia) | 98 |
Martin Guptill (New Zealand) | 101 |
David Warner (Australia) | 102 |
Rohit Sharma (India) | 108 |
As far as Babar Azam is concerned, he is only 20 runs away from going past Rohit Sharma and become the second highest run-scorer in T20I cricket history. He has scored 3955 runs so far in 110 innings while Rohit has 3974 runs to his name in the shortest format. Moreover, the Pakistan skipper is also 45 runs away from completing 4000 runs in the format and become the second player in history to do so in T20 Internationals after Virat Kohli.
Most runs in T20Is
Player | Runs |
Virat Kohli | 4037 |
Rohit Sharma | 3974 |
Babar Azam | 3955 |