Babar Azam breaks Virat Kohli's record to become fastest captain to 1000 T20I runs

Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Friday broke Virat Kohli’s record during the T20 World Cup 2021 encounter against Afghanistan. Azam became the fastest skipper to complete 1,000 runs in the shortest format of international cricket. The Pakistan captain shattered the previous record held by the Indian skipper by achieving the feat in 26 innings. Azam took 26 innings as compared to 30 taken by Kohli. South Africa’s Faf du Plessis (31), Australian Aaron Finch (32) and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson (36) round off the top five. Kohli will look to make his presence felt when India take on New Zealand in their next T20 World Cup 2021 encounter. Both the nations suffered defeats in their respective opening matches of the prestigious tournament.

“Planned our strategies well with the ball”

“We started well with the ball, got a lot of wickets like we planned. Maybe gave away 10-15 runs too many at the end. With the bat, we couldn’t capitalise the powerplay as we wanted to. At the end, with Malik and Asif Ali, we knew they could do the job. He (Asif Ali) is known for this and I was confident pre-tournament itself that he would deliver when needed. We planned our strategies well with the ball, and also ensured that he kept the uneven boundary dimensions in mind while bowling,” said Azam.

“Spinners were getting some grip from the track, Afghanistan have quality bowlers too and I was trying to take it as deep as possible. Unfortunately I couldn’t finish things off but credit to Asif Ali,” he added.

Asif Ali was named as the Player of the Match, following a quickfire cameo which helped Pakistan emerge victorious. Ali smashed four sixes in the 19th over of the innings to ensure a comprehensive win.

“I would like to congratulate the Pakistan team and all our fans. I was confident of finishing it off from this end and that’s what I told Shoaib Malik before he got out. I look at the situation of the match, and I target the bowlers accordingly. I was talking to Shoaib when I walked in to bat and I told him that I was confident enough of getting 20-25 in one over against Karim Janat, which I did,” said Ali.

“Total on the board was a decent one for this pitch”

Afghanistan captain Mohammad Nabi admitted that his team had failed to start well.

“We didn’t start well but the total on the board was a decent one for this pitch. We discussed that 150 would be a good score and so we dug deep. And then got some runs in the last few overs. I think three spinners are enough. Rashid bowled at the right time and we tried to take the game deep. Asif Ali played really well in the 19th over. Lot of positives from today’s game. We fought really well till the end,” stated Nabi.

Afghanistan will be eager to bounce back and register a triumph in their upcoming encounters. However, the same will definitely not be easy.