Babar Azam outpaces Virat Kohli as the fastest Asian batsman to make 10,000 international runs

Pakistani team’s captain, Babar Azam, became the fastest Asian batsman to reach 10,000 runs in international cricket on Sunday by surpassing Virat Kohli’s previous mark.

At the Galle International Stadium, Babar reached the milestone during Pakistan’s opening Test match against Sri Lanka. Contrasted to Kohli’s 232 innings, the top ODI and T20I batter only needed 228 innings to reach 10,000 runs.

Babar Azam in international cricket

Innings – 228
Runs – 10000
Average – 51.02
Fifties – 66
Hundreds – 24
Fours – 1019
Sixes – 99

– He becomes the fastest Pakistani player & overall 5th fastest to score 10K international runs. Living legend! #BabarAzam𓃵 #PAKvsSL pic.twitter.com/5b0T11Pj8e

— Adnan Chaudhary (DANI😇) (@itsdani04) July 17, 2022

Javed Miandad, a legendary Pakistani batsman, had previously accomplished this feat in 248 innings, making him the fastest Pakistani batter to reach 10,000 runs in international cricket.

The 27-year-old accomplished another milestone by scoring 10,000 runs in international cricket, making him the 11th Pakistani batter to do so.

It is worth noting that the right-handed batter is ranked fourth in Test batting thanks to Babar’s consistency, and he is the top T20I and ODI batsman.

He is comfortably at the top of the list for Pakistani batters and ranks fifth all-time among batters, just behind Sir Vivian Richards (206), Hashim Amla (217), Brian Lara (220), and Joe Root (222), but ahead of players like Virat Kohli and Steve Smith (both 232).

Babar Azam has also hit the headlines for encouraging Virat Kohli on Twitter while he was having a rough stretch with the bat. Kohli is currently going through a difficult period of form.

Thank you. Keep shining and rising. Wish you all the best 👏

— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) July 16, 2022

Finally responding to Babar’s tweet, the 33-year-old Kohli said, “Thank you. Keep shining and rising. Wish you all the best.”