Pakistan white bowler Babar Azam added another feather to his cap in the fourth and final T20I of the series against England at the Kennington Oval in London on Thursday (May 30).
Babar Azam became the second batsman after Indian teammate Virat Kohli to complete 4,000 runs in T20I cricket history. Azam needs just 13 points to join the former Indian captain in this list of notables. With the third T20I between England and Pakistan marred by rain in Cardiff, Babar Azam could not achieve this milestone. However, the Pakistan skipper managed to score the required runs to achieve a historic feat in the final match of the T20I series against England in London. Babar Azam accomplished this by hitting four consecutive fours against Chris Jordan in the fourth over of Pakistan’s innings.
Most runs in T20Is
Virat Kohli – 4037* (117 points)
Babar Azam – 4002* (118 marks)
Rohit Sharma – 3974* (151 matches)
Paul Stirling – 3589* (142 points)
Martin Guptill – 3531 (122)
Babar Azam scored 23 runs in the second T20I to come close in the form of the closest match. In the fourth T20I, Azam opened the batting with Mohammad Rizwan after Saim Ayub was left out of the XI. Babar Azam looked good but his innings ended when he was dismissed for 36 by Jofra Archer at 59/1.
Pakistan bowled out for 157 in the first innings
Pakistan were bundled out for 157 in 19.5 overs in the first innings against England in London. After the dismissal of Babar Azam, Pakistan lost four wickets to Mohammad Rizwan (23), Fakhar Zaman (9), Shadab Khan (0), and Azam Khan (0) for just 27 runs and they were reduced to 59/1 at 86/5. The crucial 40-run partnership between Usman Khan.Iftikhar Ahmed helped revive the visitors’ batting until the opposing team dismissed him for 38 at 126/6. The opposing team also dismissed Shaheen Afridi in quick succession at 126/7. Iftikhar Ahmed’s stay at the crease came to an end when he was dismissed for 21 at 145/8. Naseem Shah played some valuable balls in the lower order of the batting line-up. he was scoring 18 off 16 balls before being dismissed at 149/9.
Pakistan’s innings finally ended when Liam Livingstone dismissed Haris Rauf for 8, ending the innings at 157 in 19.5 overs.
