KARACHI: Pakistan's win over Ireland in the second T20I on Sunday brought notable career milestones for skipper Babar Azam and star pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi.
A day earlier, the Babar Azam-led side secured an impressive seven-wicket win against the hosts after they successfully chased down the 194-run target in the 17th over courtesy of Mohammad Rizwan, Fakhar Zaman and Azam Khan's fiery knocks.
Apart from levelling the three-match series 1-1, the match saw the captain the left-arm pacer reaching key milestones in their careers.
For the star batter, Sunday's win made him the most successful T20I captain in Pakistan's history as the 29-year-old won his 45th match as skipper in the shortest format of the game — the most by any captain.
Babar achieved the feat in 78 matches he's played as a skipper. He is followed by Uganda's Brian Masaba in second position with 44 wins in 56 matches.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's Asghar Afghan and England's Eoin Morgan are the third and fourth most successful T20I captains with 42 wins each — the former, however, has led his side in 52 matches against Morgan's 72 matches.
Separately, the win also saw Shaheen completing 300 international after dismissing three players in Friday's match.
The left-arm pacer achieved the feat in 145 matches. He has 113 and 104 wickets to his name in Test and ODI's, respectively. Whereas in the T20Is, he has dismissed 84 players.
PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who met the team on Sunday after their loss in the first T20I, congratulated and presented Babar and Shaheen with team jerseys for their achievements.
Additionally, the national side also reached another milestone of its own after the batters hit an impressive 15 sixes during a T20I — surpassing the previous tally of 12.
Of these, Fakhar hit the most i.e., six maximums, followed by Rizwan and Azam's four each, whereas one six was attributed to opener Saim Ayub.
Also, this is only the second time that the Green Shirts hit five sixes during the power play.
The series decider will be held at the same venue on May 14.
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