Star Pakistan Batsman and former all-format captain Babar Azam has become the fastest batsman in the world to have scored 10,000 runs in the T20 format and he achieved this incredible feat during the Pakistan Super League match number 2 in which he he Peshawar Zalmi Come face to face with the Quetta Gladiators at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
Babar Azam is leading the Peshawar-based PSL team for the second consecutive season and it is only fitting that he continues to achieve these kinds of records. He played a classic 68 off 42 deliveries at a strike rate of over 160, but it was ultimately in vain as his team fell short of the target of 207 by 16 runs and failed to claim victory.
Regardless, Babar will be happy to have achieved at least one personal milestone that helped him surpass the tallies of T20 cricket legends Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli2 batsmen who ranked as the highest and second highest batsman to reach 10,000 runs in all T20 competitions including domestic, overseas franchises and international T20 matches.
Babar Azam completes 10,000 T20 runs in fewer innings than Gayle and Kohli
Former Royal Challengers Bangalore teammates Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli had completed 10km races in 285 and 299 innings respectively. While Gayle accumulated so many runs playing in various franchise tournaments across the world, Kohli did it only for India and RCB.
Babar Azam, on the other hand, took just 271 innings to eclipse Gayle and Kohli. The Pakistani batsman scored his 10K runs playing for teams like Colombo Strikers (Sri-Lanka), Guyana Amazon Warriors (Caribbean), Islamabad United (PSL), Rangpur Riders (Bangladesh), Sydney Sixers (Australia), Karachi Kings and Peshawar Zalmi . (both PSL).
The 29-year-old, who resigned from his role as captain of the senior team after Pakistan exited the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup in India, has become the 12th batsman overall to make the list. He joins the likes of Chris Gayle, Shoaib Malik, Kieron Pollard, Alex Hales, David Warner, Virat Kohli, Aaron Finch, Rohit Sharma, Jos Buttler, Colin Munro, James Vince and David Miller.
Babar Azam will be hoping to maintain his form as he is showing right now as Pakistan heads to the USA and West Indies for the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, which starts at the end of June. Under his captaincy, the Men in Green had reached the semi-finals and final of the two previous editions in the United Arab Emirates (2021) and Australia (2022). This time, Pakistan will be captained by Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Babar also becomes the first PSL batsman to amass 3000 runs.
With his 68 off 42 in a losing cause, Babar Azam also became the only batsman in the entire Pakistan Super League to amass 3000 runs. He is already the all-time leading scorer in the league starting in 2016. He is the only batsman to actually score more than 2500 runs and it will be fair to say that Babar is far and alone at the top.
Babar Azam further increased his lead at the top by scoring 72 off 51 today during Peshawar Zalmi’s second PSL match against his former club Karachi Kings.