Babar Azam becomes joint-fastest to 1500 T20I runs

Azam, who was 29-run short of 1,500, achieved the feat in the ongoing second T20I against England at Old Trafford in Manchester.

Manchester: Pakistan's One Day International (ODIs) and T20Is skipper Babar Azam on Sunday touched the mark of 1,500 runs in the shortest format of the game.

Azam, who was 29-run short of 1,500, achieved the feat in the ongoing second T20I against England at Old Trafford in Manchester.

The right-handed batsman reached the feat in his 39th innings - the joint-fastest to the mark with India skipper Virat Kohli and Australia captain Aaron Finch.

Meanwhile, all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez became the second Pakistani player to reach 2000 run-mark in the shortest format of the game in the same match.

Babar Azam

He achieved the feat in the ongoing second T20I against England at Old Trafford. In his 93rd T20I, Hafeez played a quickfire knock of 69-run off 36 balls studded with four sixes and five fours. He was just eight short of the milestone figure before the match.

Shoaib Malik was the first player from Pakistan to complete 2000 T20I runs. Hafeez became the ninth batsman to touch the 2000 run-mark.

Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik

Kohli is the leading run-scorer in the T20I format. He has scored 2794 runs in 82 games so far while India vice-captain Rohit Sharma is second in the list with 2773 runs in 108 matches.

Followed by Kiwi opener Martin Guptill, Pakistan's Shoaib Malik, and Australia's David Warner.

Earlier on Sunday night, England skipper Eoin Morgan won the toss and asked visitors to bat first.

Azam amassed 56 runs off 44 balls including seven fours. Pakistan posted a total of 195/4 in their allotted 20 overs. This is the highest total by Pakistan against England. However, Eoin-Morgan-led England won the match by five wickets with five balls to spare.