ISLAMABAD: Once again, Pakistan’s captain, Babar Azam, has made history by surpassing a record previously held by India’s Virat Kohli.
Babar has become the fastest captain to reach 2000 runs in One Day International (ODI) cricket, accomplishing this feat in just 31 innings, whereas Virat took 36 innings to achieve the same milestone.
Following closely behind are South Africa’s AB de Villiers and Australia’s Michael Clarke, who achieved this milestone in 41 and 47 innings, respectively.
Babar achieved this remarkable feat during the Super Four game of the Asia Cup against Bangladesh at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, where he reached six runs.
Just last week, Babar played a sensational innings, scoring 151 runs from 131 deliveries in the opening game of the Asia Cup. In doing so, he surpassed South Africa’s great Hashim Amla and became the quickest player in the history of the game to reach 19 ODI centuries.
Babar achieved this milestone in only 102 ODI innings, with Amla previously holding the record with 104 innings. The world’s No.1 ranked ODI batter struck 14 fours and four powerful sixes during his entertaining innings, setting several new records in the process.
Notably, his score of 151 was the second-highest ever achieved at the Asia Cup, with Virat Kohli’s 183 against Pakistan in 2012 being the only higher score. This innings also marked the first time a captain had scored 150 or more in an Asia Cup match, surpassing Kohli’s previous best of 136 against Bangladesh in 2014.