Unlike the first T20I, Babar Azam didn’t open the innings in the second game against South Africa and batted at No.3.
Babar Azam achieved a crucial feat during his 31-run knock against South Africa in the second T20I in Centurion. During this innings, he completed 11,000 runs in his T20 career, becoming only the 11th batter and second Pakistani to achieve this remarkable milestone in T20s.
However, he reaches this feat quicker than any other batter and becomes the only batter to take less than 300 innings for this incredible record. Previously, the record was held by Chris Gayle, who took 314 innings to complete 11,000 runs in the format.
Fastest to 11,000 T20 runs
| Batter | Innings |
| Babar Azam | 298 |
| Chris Gayle | 314 |
| David Warner | 330 |
| Virat Kohli | 337 |
| Aaron Finch | 363 |
However, his career strike rate of 129.35 is the second-worst, only ahead of Shoaib Malik’s 127.47, but Babar’s average (43.38) is the best among all 11 batters. He also has the second-most centuries (11) in the format, only behind Chris Gayle’s tally of 22 hundreds.
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This shows that while Babar has been consistent, he hasn’t managed to score at a quick rate and up the tempo at any stage of the innings. This has always been an issue with his batting in the shortest format, but he has achieved a rare feat because scoring 11,000 runs is not easy, even if he played tepid knocks.
Babar Azam tried to bat at a high strike rate in the second T20I
Unlike the first T20I, Babar Azam didn’t open the innings in the second game against South Africa and batted at No.3. He tried to bat at a high strike rate and meet the tempo at which Saim Ayub was batting from the other end.
He scored 31 runs in 20 balls, including three boundaries and a maximum, at a strike rate of 155. While Babar couldn’t last long, his knock ensured Pakistan had the momentum, and other batters could come and continue with the same tempo.
Pakistan got to a big 206/5 in the first innings, but Babar’s quickfire knock went in vain. South Africa chased the total by seven wickets with three balls to spare.
However, Pakistan would be pleased to see Babar batting with more intent and want the captain Mohammad Rizwan to do the same. The pressure on other batters will ease if they increase their strike rate.
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