PAK vs NZ: Babar Azam to complete century of T20I matches today

LAHORE: Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam is all set to play his 100th T20I match today as Pakistan will take on New Zealand in the first T20I here at Gaddafi Stadium.

Babar, who is poised to lead Pakistan against New Zealand in the first T20I of the five-match series here tonight, will complete his T20I matches century.

Having made his T20I debut against England in 2016, Babar soon became a crucial part of the national team in the shortest format.

His consistent performances in T20Is propelled him to dethrone India’s star batter Virat Kohli as the top-ranked batter in 2018 and continued to rule the format for the longest period (1155 days).

Following the ouster of former all-format captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, Babar was initially given the reins of Pakistan’s T20I side.

Under his captaincy, Pakistan played the semi-final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 and the finals of the Asia Cup 2022 and T20 World Cup 2022.

In 99 T20Is, Babar has thus far scored 3355 runs – the most for Pakistan – at an average of 41.41. He has scored 30 fifties and two hundred amid his decorated career so far.

The first T20I against New Zealand today will mark Babar’s return to the national side for the shortest format as the star batter was given rest for the three-match T20I series against Afghanistan.

READ: Babar Azam completes two years as top-ranked ODI batter

A Sports

Recent Posts

Aaqib Javed opens up on Fakhar Zaman’s potential comeback

Aaqib Javed, the interim white-ball head coach of Pakistan, has discussed the potential return of…

4 hours ago

Haris Rauf makes significant leap, Shaheen Afridi moves down in ICC T20I Rankings

DUBAI: Pakistan fast bowler Haris Rauf made a significant leap, while his fellow pacer Shaheen…

5 hours ago

Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan suffer decline in ICC T20I Rankings

DUBAI: Pakistan batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan experienced a drop in their positions in…

6 hours ago

Former Pakistan captain suggests Sahibzada Farhan is not ‘international material’

Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt has criticised top-order batter Sahibzada Farhan for his repeated failures…

7 hours ago

Imam-ul-Haq comes out in support of Babar Azam

Pakistan opening batter Imam-ul Haq threw his weight behind under-fire batter Babar Azam who failed…

9 hours ago

India pull out of Blind T20 Cricket World Cup in Pakistan

The government of India denied its team permission to travel to Pakistan for the upcoming…

9 hours ago