Former Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Friday surpassed India’s Rohit Sharma as the highest run-scorer in the men’s T20 Internationals.
Babar achieved the milestone during Pakistan’s second T20I of the three-match series against South Africa, which is underway at the Gaddafi Stadium here.
The star batsman, who started the match with 4,223 runs, needed just nine runs to surpass Sharma’s total of 4,231.
Babar got off to a flamboyant start to his batting as he hit Corbin Bosch for a boundary through his trademark cover drive, but scored four more off the next 10 deliveries as his batting partner, Saim Ayub, dominated the South African bowlers.
He eventually scored the decisive run on the first delivery of the 12th over of the Pakistani innings by one-offing South African captain Donovan Ferreira for a single towards long-off.
Most runs in Men’s T20Is
Babar Azam -4232 in 130 matches*
Rohit Sharma – 4231 in 159 matches
Virat Kohli – 4188 in 125 matches
Jos Buttler – 3869 in 144 matches
Notably, the ongoing home series against the Proteas marked Babar’s return to the national team in T20Is as the former captain had fallen out of favor in the shortest format following the three-match away series against the same opponent in December last year.
He ultimately failed to make the Pakistan squad for the recently concluded ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025 as the former champions shifted their focus to grooming youngsters ahead of next year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
However, after the heartbreak in the eight-team continental tournament, the right-handed batsman was called up for the home assignment against South Africa, who finished second in the 2024 T20 World Cup.
However, Babar made a forgetful return to the shortest format when he fell for a duck in the series opener in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.
