Babar Azam overtakes Virat Kohli to become second highest T20I run-scorer

Pakistan batsman Babar Azam plays a shot during the third Twenty20 international cricket match between Australia and Pakistan at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart on November 18, 2024. — AFP

HOBART: Pakistan’s batter Babar Azam clinched the second spot in the list of all-time leading run-scorer in the men’s T20 Internationals, surpassing India’s Virat Kohli on Monday.

The former skipper achieved this feat during the third and final T20I of the three-match series against Australia at Bellerive Oval by scoring 41 runs.

Earlier, Australia pummelled Pakistan to secure a 3-0 T20I series victory after beating the visitors in final match.

Babar now has 4,192 runs in the format, four more than Kohli’s 4,188, while former Indian captain Rohit Sharma is still at the top with 4,231 runs.

Furthermore, the Pakistan star now needs 40 more runs to become the all-time leading run-getter by replacing Sharma, who alongside Kohli, called time on his T20I career after India’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 title victory.

Besides Babar, current white-ball captain Mohammad Rizwan is the only other Pakistani batter among the Top 10 batters with most runs in the format.

Notably, the star batter, who relinquished Pakistan’s white-ball captaincy ahead of the white-ball tour of Australia, had a forgetful outing with the bat as the right-handed batter only managed 80 runs in the three-match ODI series.

Babar’s inability to score big continued in the recently-concluded T20I series as he registered the scores of three in each of the first two T20Is before his record-breaking 41-run knock in the final fixture.