Pakistan's Babar Azam beats Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle, becomes quickest to 10,000 runs in T20s
Pakistan's Babar Azam upstaged Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle to become the quickest batter to 10,000 runs in T20s.
Reaching new heights in his glittering T20 career, former Pakistan skipper Babar Azam became the quickest batter to complete 10,0000 runs on Wednesday. The premier batter of the Green Army achieved the milestone in the sixth match of the action-packed Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2024 between Karachi Kings and Peshawar Zalmi at Lahore. After losing to Quetta Gladiators by 16 runs in their PSL 2024 opener, Babar's Peshawar Zalmi squared off against his former side Karachi Kings at the Gaddafi Stadium.
Babar completed his half-century with a six off South Africa's Tabraiz Shamsi. Adding another feather to his illustrious cap, Babar zoomed past batting icons Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and David Warner in an elite list. The former Pakistan captain is the fastest to 10,000 runs in the shortest format. Babar achieved the feat in 271 innings. Former India skipper Kohli reached 10k runs in 299 innings. West Indies icon Gayle unlocked the milestone in 285 innings while veteran Australian opener David Warner took 303 innings for 10,000 T20 runs.
Babar fires Peshawar Zalmi to 154
While opener Saim Ayub was dismissed on the first ball of the contest by Shoaib Malik, Peshawar Zalmi skipper Babar played an entertaining knock of 72 off 51 balls. The Peshawar Zalmi opener smashed seven fours and one six in his record-setting knock against Shan Masood's Karachi Kings in the 20-over contest at Lahore. Babar's 72-run knock followed by crucial cameos from Rovman Powell (39) and Asif Ali (23) lifted Peshawar Zalm to 154 in 19.5 overs. Mir Hamza (3) and Hasan Ali (3) shared six wickets for Karachi Kings.
Which batter has scored most T20 runs?
Babar is the 13th batter to amass 10,000 runs in the shortest format. The Pakistani batter is also the first player to complete 3,000 runs in the PSL. He is also the second batter after Malik to reach the 10k landmark mark in the shortest format. Malik (13159-plus runs) is the second on the list of batters with the most T20 runs. Legendary West Indies batter Gayle has scored the most runs (14562) in T20s.