Babar Azam overtakes Chris Gayle, Kohli in a new record:
Pakistan all-format and Peshawar Zalmi skipper Babar Azam reached a new milestone on Thursday in Lahore against Islamabad United as he became the fastest batsman to score 9000 runs in T20 cricket history.
Before this match, Babar Azam needed 35 runs to reach the milestone, which he did with some splendid shots. The Zalmi skipper played a sensational inning of 64 runs off 39 balls. Babar Azam smashed ten boundaries during his 39-ball inning against Islamabad United to set a perfect platform for his team.
Babar has achieved the feat in just 245 innings, breaking the record of West Indian legend Chris Gayle, who took 249 innings to reach 9000 runs. Babar Azam took only 27 innings to move from 8000 to 9000 runs in the shortest format of the game.
Indian superstar Virat Kohli is third on the list with 271 innings, followed by Australia’s David Warner with 273 innings.
The thing worth noting is that Babar Azam is the second Pakistani batter to complete 9000 T20 runs after Shoaib Malik.
Babar Azam has also scored the most T20 centuries (8) by any batsman since 2019. He currently stands in third place in the ICC player rankings for T20 batters. The Right Handed batter is the only cricketer in the world to be in the top five rankings across all formats.