RAWALPINDI: Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam has equaled Virat Kohli’s record for the most half-centuries in T20 International cricket on Sunday.
According to details, Babar Azam achieved the milestone during the match against Zimbabwe at the Tri-Nation T20 Series match at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, where Pakistan defeated Zimbabwe after scoring 195 runs for five wickets.
In fact, both opening batter Sahibzada Farhan and Babar Azam got brilliant fifties and, therefore, were the most instrumental characters in not only making but also strengthening the set total. Babar hit 74 runs off 52 balls and during this, he hit seven fours and two sixes. It was the 38th time that he made a half-century in his T20 International career, thus, he equaled to Virat Kohli’s record of 38 half-centuries in which he is the only one to hold the record.
The 38 half-centuries have been made by Babar in 127 innings out of 134 matches and in addition, he is the one to have scored the highest number of 4,392 runs in T20 Internationals.
Pakistan reaches final after defeating Zimbabwe by 69 runs
Pakistan defeated Zimbabwe by 69 runs in a one-sided match to reach the final in the fourth match of the tri-nation T20 series.
The national team showed a brilliant performance while batting first and put up a huge total of 195 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in 20 overs, in response to which the entire Zimbabwe team was bundled out for 126 runs. In this match played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, the Pakistani batsmen adopted an aggressive strategy from the beginning.
Babar Azam batted with great responsibility and played a classic innings of 74 runs, which included seven fours and two sixes. Opener Sahibzada Farhan was also in excellent form and scored his second consecutive half-century in the series by scoring 63 runs. Together, the two of them established a significant partnership of 103 runs for the second wicket.
Among the other batsmen, Saim Ayub scored 13 runs, Faheem Ashraf three and Muhammad Nawaz four runs, while in the last moments, Fakhar Zaman further strengthened the scoreboard by playing a lightning innings of 27 runs off 10 balls. Captain Salman Ali Agha remained not out on one run, while Sikandar Raza dismissed two players for Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwean team could not stay long in front of the Pakistani bowlers and was restricted to only 126 runs in pursuit of the target of 196 runs. Pakistan won the match easily and secured its place in the final. It should be noted that earlier, Pakistan had also defeated Sri Lanka in the third match of the series in which Sahibzada Farhan played a brilliant innings of 80 runs unbeaten. In the first match, the Green Shirts defeated Zimbabwe by five wickets and easily achieved the target of 148 runs.
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