Pakistan all-format captain, Babar Azam, struck yet another half-century to help his side chase down a target of 174 runs in the last group stage match of the tri-series against Bangladesh at Hagley Oval in Christchurch.
With a match-winning effort of 55 runs off 40 balls, which included nine boundaries, the right-hander achieved many milestones, including completing a century of fifty-plus scores in international cricket.
The 27-year-old also reached the milestone of 11,000 international runs across all formats, becoming the 11th Pakistani batter to do so. Before the match, the Lahore-born cricketer needed 53 runs to reach the milestone.
The all-format captain has now joined the list of the Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Javed Miandad, Saleem Malik, Saeed Anwar, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Shahid Afridi, and Misbah-ul-Haq.
Babar has scored 3,122 runs at an average of 47.30 in red-ball cricket, 4,664 runs at an average of 59.79 in ODIs, and 3,216 runs at an average of 44.05 in the shortest format of cricket.
| Sr. No. | Player | Inns | Runs | Ave | 100s | 50s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inzamam-ul-Haq | 547 | 20541 | 43.51 | 35 | 129 |
| 2 | Younis Khan | 491 | 17790 | 39.88 | 41 | 83 |
| 3 | Mohammad Yousuf | 426 | 17134 | 45.81 | 39 | 95 |
| 4 | Javed Miandad | 407 | 16213 | 46.99 | 31 | 93 |
| 5 | Saleem Malik | 410 | 12938 | 36.96 | 20 | 76 |
| 6 | Saeed Anwar | 335 | 12876 | 41.00 | 31 | 68 |
| 7 | Mohammad Hafeez | 429 | 12780 | 32.51 | 21 | 64 |
| 8 | Shoaib Malik | 428 | 11855 | 33.96 | 12 | 61 |
| 9 | Shahid Afridi | 502 | 11148 | 24.12 | 11 | 51 |
| 10 | Misbah-ul-Haq | 315 | 11132 | 44.35 | 10 | 84 |
| 11 | Babar Azam | 251 | 11002 | 50.70 | 26 | 74 |
Earlier this month, the right-hander passed the 8,000 T20 runs mark, becoming the youngest batter in history to do so and the second-fastest batter after West Indian legend, Chris Gayle.