ISLAMABAD- Pakistani Skipper Babar Azam breaks several records in his first innings as a captain of Pakistan T20 team.
Babar Azam set multiple records during the abandoned first Twenty20 International (T20I) between Australia and Pakistan on Sunday in Sydney. Azam’s unbeaten 59-run knock off 38 balls, which included five fours and two sixes, was the highest score by a Pakistan batsman in his debut as captain.
The record was previously held by veteran all-rounder Shahid Afridi for scoring 50 runs from 37 balls in his captaincy debut against Sri Lanka in Colombo in 2009.
The 25-year-old also went past all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez in scoring the most fifty-plus runs for Pakistan in T20Is. Hafeez in 86 T20I innings has 10 fifty-plus scores under his belt, whereas Azam has 11 in just 34 innings.
The records didn’t stop there as Babar also became the only Pakistani batsman to score 1500-plus T20 runs in a calendar year.
Indian batsman Virat Kohli (1614 runs in 2016) and West Indies opener Chris Gayle (1665 runs in 2015) are the only other batsmen to score more than 1500-plus runs in a calendar year.
The Pakistan T20I captain has scored 1551 runs this year and still has two innings left against Australia to snatch the record for scoring most T20 runs in a calendar year from Gayle.