Pakistan cricket team skipper Babar Azam entered history books during the second T20I against England on Saturday, May 25. The star Pakistani batter surpassed Indian captain Rohit Sharma in a major T20I run-scoring record and is on the cusp of replacing Virat Kohli at the top.
Chasing an 184-run target, Babar was off to a good start but was not able to score a big innings at Birmingham's Edgbaston. Babar scored 32 runs off 26 balls before getting dismissed by Moeen Ali on lbw. But after reaching the 20-run mark, Babar surpassed Rohit in the list of players with the most T20I runs.
Babar surpassed Rohit's tally of 3,987 runs in T20Is and is now only behind Virat Kohli in the major record. The former Indian captain tops the list with 4,037 runs in just 109 innings despite playing just two matches since November 2022.
However, with no T20I matches scheduled for India prior to the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, Babar is likely to go past Virat Kohli's tally with two more matches to be played against England in the four-match series. Babar needs only 51 runs to dethrone Kohli at the top.
Most runs in T20I cricket
- Virat Kohli - 4037 runs in 109 innings
- Babar Azam - 3987 runs in 111 innings
- Rohit Sharma - 3974 runs in 143 innings
- Paul Stirling - 3589 runs in 141 innings
- Martin Guptill - 3531 runs in 118 innings
Meanwhile, captain Jos Buttler led by example by scoring 84 runs off 51 balls to help the Three Lions post a challenging total of 183. Buttler became the first English cricketer to score 3,000 T20I runs for England and also equalled Eoin Morgan's record for most T20I appearances for their team.
Chasing a big total, Pakistan lost both openers Mohammad Rizwan and Saim Ayub early and were bowled out on 160 runs in 19.2 overs. Reece Topley took three wickets for 41 while the returning pacer Jofra Archer shone with two wickets for 28 to lead England to an impressive 23-run win.
