Babar Azam beats Rohit Sharma's record to reach huge T20I milestone

LAHORE: Pakistan ace batter Babar Azam shattered former India captain Rohit Sharma’s record to become the highest run scorer in T20I cricket.

The 31-year-old shattered the record during the second T20I against South Africa here at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

Before coming into this fixture, the right-handed batter required nine runs to surpass Rohit Sharma and become the highest run-scorer in the shorter format.

Babar opened his account with a majestic cover drive in front of his home crowd that erupted in loud cheers as he arrived on the crease.

He achieved the feat on the first ball of the 11th over with a single off Donovan Ferreira’s bowling. With this single, he now sits in pole position ahead of Sharma and Virat Kohli, who have already retired from this format.

Most runs in men’s T20Is

Babar Azam 4234 in 130 matches
Rohit Sharma – 4231 in `159 matches
Virat Kohli – 4188 in 125 matches
Jos Buttler – 3869 in 144 matches

Opting to bat first, South Africa displayed a shambolic batting display and were folded for a mere 110 in 19.2 overs.

The architects of the rattling South Africa batting lineup were Pakistan pacers Faheem Ashraf and Salman Mirza.

Mirza’s opening burst of three wickets tore through the Proteas top-order while Faheem’s four-wicket haul ensured that the visitors didn’t post an imposing total.

Playing XIs

South Africa: Reeza Hendricks, Quinton de Kock (wk), Tony de Zorzi, Dewald Brevis, Matthew Breetzke, Donovan Ferreira (c), George Linde, Corbin Bosch, Nandre Burger, Ottneil Baartman, Lungi Ngidi

Pakistan: Saim Ayub, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Salman Agha(c), Usman Khan(w), Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Naseem Shah, Salman Mirza, Abrar Ahmed

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