Babar Azam reached a major milestone during Pakistan’s opening ODI of the tri-series against Sri Lanka at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Sunday, October 18. The right-handed batter completed 16,000 international runs on the final delivery of the fifth over of Pakistan’s innings.

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bowl first in the first ODI. Left-arm pacer Dilshan Madushanka gave the visitors a strong start, helping restrict Pakistan to 54/2 during the Powerplay. Babar and debutant Saad Baig then steadied the innings, taking Pakistan to 73/2 after 14 overs.

Dilshan Madushanka dismissed Saim Ayub for seven before removing Fakhar Zaman for 16 with a short delivery. Babar and Saad Baig then rotated the strike and picked their scoring opportunities against Sri Lanka’s change bowlers to rebuild Pakistan’s innings.

Babar Azam Joins Pakistan’s Leading International Run-Scorers

Babar Azam needed seven runs to reach the landmark. He became only the fifth Pakistani batter to score 16,000 international runs, joining Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf and Javed Miandad. He reached the milestone in his 355th international match, having made his debut in May 2015.

Inzamam-ul-Haq tops the list with 20,541 runs in 495 matches between 1991 and 2007. Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf follow with 17,790 and 17,134 runs, respectively. Javed Miandad scored 16,213 runs in 357 matches between 1975 and 1996.

India’s Sachin Tendulkar holds the world record for the most international runs, with 34,357. Virat Kohli follows with 28,527 runs. Fourteen players have crossed the 20,000-run mark in international cricket, with Inzamam the only Pakistani on the list.

Most Runs for Pakistan in International Cricket

Babar Azam’s International Record Across Formats

Babar Azam has represented Pakistan in all three formats and previously captained the national team in Tests, ODIs and T20Is. He has scored 4,771 runs in 66 Tests at an average of 42.98, including nine centuries and 34 half-centuries.

In ODIs, Babar has scored 6,626 runs in 143 matches, according to the supplied format-wise table. He has recorded 20 centuries and remains one of Pakistan’s leading batters in the format. He is also the country’s ninth-highest ODI run-scorer.

In T20Is, Babar has scored 4,596 runs in 145 matches at a strike rate of 128.02. He holds the record for the most runs in men’s T20I cricket.

Babar Azam’s Record in International Cricket for Pakistan