Babar on verge of breaking Rohit Sharma’s all-time T20I record

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan star batter Babar Azam is close to replacing former India captain Rohit Sharma as the all-time leading run-scorer in T20Is in the upcoming three-match home series against South Africa.

The 31-year-old, who has 4223 runs in 128 matches at an average of 39.83, is just nine runs behind Rohit, who leads the elusive list with 4231 runs from 159 games.

Most runs in men’s T20Is

Rohit Sharma – 4231 in 159 matches

Babar Azam – 4223 in 128 matches

Virat Kohli – 4188 in 125 matches

Jos Buttler – 3869 in 144 matches

Notably, the upcoming home series against the Proteas will mark Babar’s return to the national team in T20Is, as the former captain had gone out of favour in the shortest format after the three-match away series against the same opposition in December last year. He ultimately failed to make it to the Pakistan squad for the recently concluded ACC Men’s T20 Asia Cup 2025 as the former champions shifted their focus to grooming youngsters ahead of next year’s ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. However, following the heartbreak in the eight-team continental tournament, the right-handed batter was called up for the home assignment against South Africa, who finished runners-up at the T20 World Cup 2024.

Pakistan squad for South Africa T20Is

Salman Ali Agha (c), Abdul Samad, Abrar Ahmed, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Nawaz, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Mohammad Salman Mirza, Naseem Shah, Sahibzada Farhan, Saim Ayub, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan (wk) and Usman Tariq. Web Desk