Babar Azam gets to 9,500 runs in T20 cricket: Stats
Veteran Pakistan batter Babar Azam has completed 9,500 runs in T20 cricket. He accomplished the milestone with his 38th run in the T20I series opener against New Zealand in Auckland. Babar, who has truly been a run machine in this format, ended up scoring 57 off 42 balls, a knock laced with nine boundaries. Pakistan, however, lost the duel by 46 runs.
Second Pakistan batter to get the mark
Babar has now raced to 9,519 runs in 269 games as his average and strike rate in the format are 43.66 and 128.94, respectively. The tally includes 10 tons and 78 fifties with 122 being his best score. Only Shoaib Malik (12,993) has accumulated more runs in the format among Pakistan internationals. Mohammad Hafeez trails Babar with 7,946 runs.
Second-most centuries in T20 cricket
Babar's tally of 10 tons is the most by a Pakistan batter in T20 cricket. In the overall list, he is only behind former West Indies opener Chris Gayle, who clobbered 22 tons. Meanwhile, Babar's average of 43.66 is only second to his teammate Mohammad Rizwan (43.83) among batters with at least 1,000 T20 runs.
Here are his T20I numbers
With his 15th run in the game, Babar became the fourth player to accomplish 3,500 (now 3,542) T20I runs. Babar is only behind Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Martin Guptill in terms of T20I runs. Playing his 105th T20I, the Pakistan batter has 34 fifty-plus scores in T20Is, including three tons. His average and strike rate are 41.67 and 128.84, respectively.
Sixth 50-plus score against NZ
Chasing 227, Babar arrived in the third over with the scorecard reading 33/1. He played positive but risk-free cricket early on as he stitched vital partnerships with Rizwan (25) and Fakhar Zaman (15). He tried to up the ante later on and smoked a fine fifty. Babar eventually fell to Ben Sears. This was his sixth fifty-plus score against NZ (100: 1).
How did the game pan out?
Finn Allen's 35 off 15 balls gave NZ a flying start. Kane Williamson (57) and Daryl Mitchell (61) helped NZ finish at 226/8. Shaheen Afridi and Abbas Afridi claimed three-fers. Pakistan started their chase well thanks to Saim Ayub (27 off 8 balls). However, the visitors could not keep up to the required rate thereafter as Tim Southee claimed four wickets.
