Babar Azam surpasses Virat Kohli as top ICC T20I batter for most consecutive days, creates Asian record

In one reminder to Virat Kohli’s continued slump,  Babar Azam has surpassed the Indian maestro in the total number of days as the no.1 batter in ICC Men’s T20I Rankings. The Pakistani ace recently smashed Virat Kohli’s previous record of 1013 days at the top in the previous decade.

Azam remains at the top of the rankings with 818 rating points, followed by compatriot Mohammad Rizawan and South African Aiden Markrm in the second and third places respectively.

The 27-year-old hit an impressive 66 runs from 46 balls against Australia in his only T20I in 2022. Last year, he played a crucial role in Pakistan’s road to the semifinals of the T20 World Cup in the UAE, scoring 303 runs at the tournament. Overall, he has scored 2686 runs in 74 T20I games till now in his career.

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In contrast, Virat Kohli, who has only played in two T20I matches in 2022 till now, is currently ranked 21st. Kohli has faced a slump in form, struggling to score runs in all formats of the game recently. In T20Is during the previous three years, the India star has failed to surpass the 300-run threshold in a calendar year.

The Pakistani skipper also became the fastest Asian player to reach the 10,000-run milestone in international cricket, needing just 228 innings, compared to Kohli’s 232. 

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Babar is the fifth-fastest batter 10,000 runs in international cricket, equal with Joe Root (228) and following Brian Lara (220), Hashim Amla (217), and Viv Richards (206).

Congratulating the star batter, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) tweeted,“10,000 international runs. Congratulations skipper @babarazam258 on becoming the 11th Pakistan batter to accomplish this major milestone.” 

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Azam reached the milestone on the second day of the first Test match against Sri Lanka, during his side’s first innings. Azam also overcame several greats of the sport like Sunil Gavaskar, Javed Miandad, and Sourav Ganguly to accomplish the feat.