Rohit Babar
Babar Azam and Virat Kohli. Credits: Twitter

Pakistan captain Babar Azam, on Thursday, became the second Pakistani, after Mohammad Hafeez, to go past 2500 T20I runs while batting in the T20 World Cup semi-final against Australia in Dubai.

In doing so, Babar Azam surpassed Virat Kohli’s record to become the fastest batsman to reach the 2500-run mark in T20Is. Babar Azam achieved this in his 62nd T20I innings, which is 6 less than Kohli managed for these many runs.

Aussie captain and opener Aaron Finch is third on the list with 78 innings, followed by New Zealand opener Martin Guptill who took 83 innings to go past 2500 T20I runs.

Babar Azam, Virat Kohli
Babar Azam, Virat Kohli. Image credit: DNA

Babar Azam has scored 2507 runs at an average of 48 with the help of a century and 24 half-centuries, and is catching up to Kohli, who has 3227 runs at 52.

Mohammad Rizwan raises another fifty, Pakistan on top of Australia bowlers

After being put in to bat first, Pakistan were off to a flyer from openers Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam. The pair put up 47 runs in the powerplay; Babar scored 24 runs and Rizwan 21, both off 18 balls each. Babar stroked 4 classy boundaries while Rizwan smashed Pakistan’s first six of the innings.

The partnership grew at run-a-ball for the next four overs and was broken by Adam Zampa, when Babar (39 off 34) holed out at long-on.

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Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan
Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. (Credits: Twitter)

Rizwan, though, attacked Zampa for a slog over deep mid-wicket before slamming Josh Hazlewood over the same area. Fakhar Zaman got going with a couple of boundaries. Rizwan, who raised his fifty off 41 balls, and Zaman then clobbered a six each to Hazlewood taking the lanky pacer for a 21-run over. At the time of writing, Pakistan are 143/1 at the 17-over mark, and are inching towards a big total.

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