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Pakistan opener Babar Azam scored 41 runs against Australia in third and final T20I of the series to surpass former India T20I batter Virat Kohli on this list of leading run-scorers. Babar is now the second-highest run-scorer in T20Is. He is only behind India's T20 World Cup 2024-winning captain Rohit Sharma who has 4,231 runs from 159 games.
Babar got off to an electrifying start in the powerplay overs. In the powerplay overs, he scored 24 runs at a strike rate of 200. On the other end, wickets kept falling in the middle overs. Babar did not hit a single boundary after powerplay overs and eventually got bowled by Adam Zampa in an attempt to charge down the track and play a big shot. His 28-ball 41 was laced with four fours. This was the third time Babar was dismissed by leg-spinner Zampa.
Babar not too far behind
Now, Babar has 4,192 runs from 126 T20Is at an average of 40.30 including three centuries and 36 fifties. In the third spot, Kohli has 4,188 runs to his name from 125 T20Is at an average of 48.69 including one century and 38 fifties.
Babar won't be able to break the record in Zimbabwe as he has been rested from the tour. He is likely to get a chance to dethrone Rohit in March 2025 when Pakistan tour New Zealand after ICC Champions Trophy 2025. He needs 40 more runs to claim the top spot.
Babar way ahead of others
Among current batters, nowhere is near Babar. Ireland's Paul Stirling has 3,655 runs followed by England captain Jos Buttler (3,389 runs), Pakistan captain Mohammad Rizwan (3,329 runs), Australia's Glenn Maxwell (2,664 runs), India captain Suryakumar Yadav (2,570 runs) and South Africa's David Miller (2,509 runs).
Changes in playing XI
Earlier, for the dead rubber clash, Rizwan was rested. In his absence, Agha Salman made his T20I captaincy debut. Also, young Jahandad Khan made his T20I debut replacing Naseem Shah who managed one wicket from first two games.
