Babar Azam has pipped Virat Kohli to the second spot in the list of most runs in the T20Is after his knock of 41 against Australia in the third game against Australia in Hobart on Monday. The former Pakistan captain currently has 4192 runs while Kohli scored 4188. Rohit Sharma still tops the list with 4231 runs. Notably, both Kohli and Rohit retired from T20Is following India’s triumphant T20 World Cup earlier this year.
Babar is just 39 runs shy of becoming the most run-getter in T20 internationals. Mohammad Rizwan is the only other Pakistan player in the top 10 with 3329 runs.
The right-hander, who stepped down as Pakistan’s white-ball captain for the second time before the Australia series, didn’t had a great Australian tour. He accumulated just 80 runs in the ODI series. In the T20Is, Babar fell for three runs on both occasions in the first and second games.
In Hobart, Babar opened the innings and held one end till the 13th over. The stylish right-hander was pretty brutal against Marcus Stoinis, hitting the Australian all-rounder for three fours in the over.
Meanwhile, Pakistan batters once again failed to live up to the expectation in the T20Is. After losing the first two games, none of the Pakistan batters got going as wickets fell at regular intervals.
For Australia, Aaron Hardie wrecked havoc with three wickets while Spencer Johnson and Adam Zampa took two wickets each.
Earlier, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat. The visitors rested captain Mohammad Rizwan with Agha Salman named stan-in-captain. Haseebullah Khan returned to the lineup.
Left-arm pace bowler Jahandad Khan made his debut, replacing Naseem Shah. For the third successive game, Australia kept faith in the same playing XI. Pakistan won the preceding ODI series 2-1.
AUS vs PAK playing XIs
Australia: Matthew Short, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Glenn Maxwell, Tim David, Marcus Stoinis, Josh Inglis (captain), Aaron Hardie, Nathan Ellis, Xavier Bartlett, Spencer Johnson, Adam Zampa.
Pakistan: Babar Azam, Sahibzada Farhan, Haseebullah Khan, Usman Khan, Salman Agha (captain), Irfan Khan, Abbas Afridi, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Jahandad Khan, Haris Rauf, Sufiyan Muqeem.
