KARACHI: Peshawar Zalmi’s skipper Babar Azam on Thursday rewrote the history books as he became the fastest batter to score 12,000 runs in men’s T20 during his side’s Pakistan Super League (PSL) 11 fixture against Karachi Kings at the National Bank Stadium.
The right-handed batter entered the fixture with 11987 runs to his name in just 337 innings and breached the 12000-run barrier with a six off Kings’ Khushdil Shah on the third delivery of the fourth over.
As a result, the 31-year-old became just the 12th batter in the history of the men’s T20s to reach the milestone, joining the likes of West Indies’ Chris Gayle and Kieron Pollard, India’s Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, and compatriot Shoaib Malik in the elusive list.
Interestingly, Babar is the fastest among the 12 batters to breach the 12000-run barrier, taking just 338 innings, five fewer than Gayle, who conceded 345 innings. He is followed by Kohli and Australia’s David Warner, with 360 and 368 innings, respectively.
Meanwhile, Gayle still holds the top spot on the list of batters with the most runs in men’s T20s with 14,562 runs in 455 innings, comprising 22 centuries and 88 fifties, closely followed by compatriot Pollard with 14,482 runs.
Legendary Pakistan all-rounder Malik holds the seventh spot with 13,571 runs in 515 innings.
Batters with 12000-plus runs in men’s T20s
Chris Gayle (West Indies) – 14562 runs in 455 innings
Kieron Pollard (West Indies) – 14482 runs in 652 innings
Alex Hales (England) – 14449 runs in 523 innings
David Warner (Australia) – 14121 runs in 434 innings
Jos Buttler (England) – 13909 runs in 466 innings
Virat Kohli (India) – 13612 runs in 398 innings
Shoaib Malik (Pakistan) – 13571 runs in 515 innings
James Vince (England) – 13102 runs in 470 innings
Rohit Sharma (India) – 12361 runs in 452 innings
Quinton de Kock (South Africa) – 12322 runs in 439 innings
Faf du Plessis (South Africa) – 12041 runs in 431 innings
Babar Azam (Pakistan) – 11944 runs in 349 innings
