Babar Azam goes past Virat Kohli to become quickest to 1,000 T20I runs

Pakistan batsman Babar Azam surpassed Virat Kohli to become the fastest to 1,000 T20I runs. He achieved this feat while batting in the third and the final T20I against New Zealand at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Azam completed 1,000 runs in T20 internationals when he was on 48 runs. He thus achieved the milestone in his 26th innings in the shortest format of the game, surpassing Kohli who took an innings more to complete 1,000 runs in the format.

Azam went on to notch up his eighth fifty in T20Is 79 runs from 58 deliveries, hitting seven fours and two sixes. The 24-year old also has taken the shortest time to reach the mark in two years and 58 days.

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The record for this was earlier held by Alex Hales who had two years and 262 days. Kohli had taken a total of 112 days to score 1,000 runs in T20Is. He now has 1,021 runs in the shortest version of the game with his high score being 97* against the West Indies back in Karachi earlier this year.

Azam, who is touted as “Pakistan’s Virat Kohli” has shown glimpses of the modern-day great when he became the fastest player to get to 1,000 runs in ODI history, equalling the record held by the great Sir Vivian Richards, England batsmen Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott and Proteas gloveman Quinton De Kock who all had taken up 21 innings.

Image credit-Sky Sports