Pakistan’s ace batter and former skipper Babar Azam has created history in the ongoing Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2024 by becoming first to reach 3,000 runs in the tournament history. Babar, who now plays for Peshawar Zalmi, scored 68 in the second match of the season against Quetta Gladiators to reach the milestone. He reached the 3K-run mark in 78 innings at a strike rate of 125.
Babar now has 3,003 runs with Fakhar Zaman being a distant second with 2,381 runs at a strike rate of 142. The next three batters in the list are veteran Shoaib Malik with 2,135 runs, Mohammad Rizwan with 2,007 runs and Kamran Akmal with 1,927 runs.
On the day Babar reached 3K-run mark, that is, February 18, Rizwan, who plays for Multan Sultans, also became the fourth batter in the PSL history to reach 2,000 runs. Rizwan reached the milestone in 61 innings.
Hafeez recalls tough conversation with Babar
Former Pakistan team director Mohammad Hafeez has revealed that it took him two months to convince Babar Azam to bat at number three in T20Is. Hafeez made the revelation after recently being sacked from his post of team director. Under Hafeez, Pakistan played three Tests in Australia and five T20Is in New Zealand. The Men in Green, however, lost both series but Babar flourished at number three in T20Is.
After buying into Hafeez’s idea, Babar scored 57, 66, 58, 19 and 13 in the five T20Is, but Pakistan lost the series 1-4 to New Zealand after losing the Test series 0-3 to Australia.
Hafeez was appointed the team director after Pakistan’s poor show in the ODI World Cup 2023. The former skipper’s stint, however, was cut short from an initial tenure of four years to just two months after Pakistan’s horrendous tour of Australia and New Zealand.