Babar Azam smashes Matthew Hayden’s record of most runs in a maiden T20 World Cup

Pakistan captain Babar Azam shattered Australia’s Matthew Hayden’s record for most runs scored by a batsman in his maiden ICC T20 World Cup appearance.

Babar reached this milestone during the second semi-final against Australia on Thursday.

Hayden, who is currently the batting consultant of the national team during the ongoing tournament, had set the record 14 years ago in the ICC T20 World Cup 2007, where he scored 265 runs before Babar surpassed him during the first over of the semi-final.

The 27-year-old scored 39 off 34 balls including five fours. He has now scored 303 runs in 6 games of the T20 World Cup with an average of 60.60. He has scored four half-centuries, which is also one of his records during the tournament.

During his innings against Australia, Babar also scored 2500 runs in T20 internationals, making him the fastest batsman to reach the milestone. Babar achieved the feat in his 62nd T20I innings, six less than the previous record-holder, India skipper Virat Kohli.

 Pakistan got off with a strong start

Pakistan’s Babar, Mohammad Rizwan and Fakhar Zaman played a crucial role in lifting the score to 176-4 in 20 overs.

The opening duo of Babar-Rizwan started off with aggressive hitting and forged a partnership of 71 before the wicketkeeper added another 72-run partnership with Fakhar.

Rizwan became the first batsman to have scored 1,000 runs in a single calendar year with his 11th T20I half-century.

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