Babar Azam surpasses Rohit Sharma to become top run-scorer in T20Is

Former Pakistan captain Babar Azam surpassed India's Rohit Sharma as the highest run-scorer in men's T20 Internationals on Friday.

Babar achieved the milestone during Pakistan's second T20I of the three-match series against South Africa, underway here at the Gaddafi Stadium.

The star batter, who entered the fixture with 4,223 runs, required just nine runs to surpass Sharma’s tally of 4,231.

Babar got off to a flamboyant start to his knock as he smashed Corbin Bosch for a boundary through his trademark cover drive, but scored four more off the next 10 deliveries as his batting partner, Saim Ayub, was dominating the South African bowlers.

He ultimately scored the decisive run on the first delivery of the 12th over of Pakistan’s innings by working one off South Africa captain Donovan Ferreira for a single towards the long-off.

Most runs in men's T20Is

Babar Azam -4232 in 130 matches*

Rohit Sharma – 4231 in 159 matches

Virat Kohli – 4188 in 125 matches

Jos Buttler – 3869 in 144 matches

Notably, the ongoing home series against the Proteas marked 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.

Babar, however, had a forgetful return to the shortest format as he fell for a duck in the series opener in Rawalpindi on Tuesday.