Babar Azam nears another milestone in T20I cricket

Pakistan’s star batter and captain Babar Azam is nearing another milestone as his side gears up for the T20I series against New Zealand this month.

Azam currently has 3,698 runs in T20I cricket and is only behind Virat Kohli (4,037) and Rohit Sharma (3,974) on the list of most runs in the shortest format of the game.

The prolific Pakistan batter only needs 339 runs to equal Kohli’s tally of runs in T20I cricket.

Most runs in T20I cricket

Name	Innings	Runs
Virat Kohli	109	4037
Rohit Sharma	143	3974
Babar Azam	103	3698
Martin Guptill	118	3531
Paul Stirling	136	3491

Pakistan will face New Zealand in a five-match T20I series with the first game set to take place in Rawalpindi on April 18.

New Zealand's squad touched down in Islamabad on Sunday, meanwhile Pakistan team has also assembled in the federal capital after Eid-ul-Fitr holidays.

Pakistan squad

Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Saim Ayub, Usman Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed, Azam Khan (wk), Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Amir, Abbas Afridi, Abrar Ahmed, Fakhar Zaman, Irfan Khan Niazi, Usama Mir, Zaman Khan

Reserves: Haseebullah, Mohammad Ali, Agha Salman, Sahibzada Farhan, Mohammad Wasim Jr.

New Zealand squad

Michael Bracewell (c), Mark Chapman, Josh Clarkson, Jacob Duffy, Dean Foxcroft, Ben Lister, Cole McConchie, Jimmy Neesham, Will O’Rourke, Tim Robinson, Ben Sears, Tim Seifert (WK), Ish Sodhi, Tom Blundell, Zak Foulkes.

Pakistan vs New Zealand T20I series schedule

April 18 — 1st T20I, Rawalpindi

April 20 — 2nd T20I, Rawalpindi

April 21 — 3rd T20I, Rawalpindi

April 25 — 4th T20I, Lahore

April 27 — 5th T20I, Lahore