Babar Azam continued his incredible T20I form as he struck a match-winning 79* against New Zealand to help Pakistan defeat the hosts in Christchurch in the second match of the ongoing tri-series which involves Bangladesh.
While it was Babar’s opening partner, Mohammad Rizwan, who led the charge in the previous game against Bangladesh, the Pakistani skipper stepped up against the Kiwis when Rizwan got out for 4 runs in the chase of 148.
Babar shut down critics and trollers who have mocked and questioned him over his slowish strike rate in T20s and was aggressive from the outset of his innings. On a two-paced surface, Babar made the chase look comfortable – scoring 79 unbeaten runs off 53 balls with the help of 11 classy boundaries as Pakistan gunned down the target with 10 balls to spare.
Babar Azam equals Kohli and Rohit’s big record in T20Is
This was Babar Azam’s 28th T20I fifty and he reached this landmark in his 84th T20I innings – the same number of innings that former India skipper Virat Kohli’s had taken to record 28 T20I half-centuries! This is quite astonishing. Kohli now has 33 fifties and 1 century in 101 T20I innings, while Babar has two T20I tons.
India skipper Rohit Sharma, who is currently the leading run-scorer in T20Is, also has 28 T20I fifties but he’s also notched up 4 T20I hundreds, which is the most in the world.
The Pakistani captain has been supreme in run-chases. This was Babar Azam’s 12th score of 50 or more (2 centuries and 10 fifties) while chasing in T20Is, which is now the joint third-highest by a batsman in the format. He equalled India captain Rohit Sharma – who has 11 fifties and a hundred while chasing – and now stands behind only Kohli (19) and Australia’s David Warner (16).
Further, revealing Babar’s match-winning-ability when scoring big in run-chases: 11 of Babar’s 12 50+ scores in T20Is while chasing have come in a winning cause, which is now the joint second-highest alongside Warner. Only Virat Kohli with 15 such match-winning 50+ scores is ahead.
After collecting his Player of the Match award, Babar Azam said, “We have started well in the batting, me and Rizwan planned to utilise the first six overs and also the dew. We have a plan to send him up to charge the bowlers, he played well [on Shadab at 4]. Me and Shadab planned that I play all the way and he will go for his shots.”
