PALLEKELE: Pakistan batter Babar Azam made 25 off 24 balls as England beat Pakistan by two wickets on Feb. 24 in a Super Eight match at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, with England captain Harry Brook striking 100 off 50 deliveries to clinch a semi-final place. Pakistan posted 164-9 after choosing to bat, then had England 35-3 before Brook’s innings swung the chase, which ended at 166-8 with five balls remaining.
Azam’s standing in the format is anchored by one headline milestone: he became the leading men’s T20 international run-scorer in late October 2025, passing Rohit Sharma’s previous mark of 4,231 runs. His overall T20I totals, built across 145 matches, stand at 4,596 runs at a strike rate of 128.02. The volume has been accumulated across a wide range of opponents, including associate nations such as the Netherlands, Canada and the United States, alongside full-member sides.
The statistical picture in global tournaments has been less favorable. Among batters with at least 500 runs at T20 World Cups, Azam’s strike rate of 111.81 has been listed as the joint-slowest. In T20 World Cup matches against Australia, England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies since 2021, he has 250 runs in 11 matches at an average of 27.77 and a strike rate of 111.6, with two fifties and no hundreds, including a six off 15 balls against South Africa.
Numbers Against Top Opposition
Azam’s scoring rate compares narrowly against several established T20I benchmarks. Australia’s Glenn Maxwell has a career T20I strike rate of 156.0, while England’s Jos Buttler has been listed at 149.1 and India’s Virat Kohli at 137.0. India captain Suryakumar Yadav’s T20I strike rate has been listed at 163.2. Azam’s own year-by-year record shows a marked dip in calendar 2025, when he scored 206 runs in eight T20I innings at a strike rate of 114.4.
Match outcomes against elite opposition have also shaped the context around his output. India and Pakistan have played 17 T20 internationals, with India winning 14 and Pakistan winning three, a head-to-head gap that has widened in the past decade of neutral-venue meetings. Pakistan’s only T20 World Cup win over India came in 2021. During Azam’s T20I captaincy spell from 2019 to 2024, Pakistan’s record was 48 wins and 29 losses, a lower win rate than Sarfraz Ahmed’s 29 wins in 37 matches.
Board Turbulence And Role Shifts
Azam’s place has been further defined by Pakistan Cricket Board decisions over the last two years. He stepped down as Pakistan captain in all formats in November 2023, and the board confirmed he resigned as the men’s white-ball captain again in October 2024. He was then left out of Pakistan’s Test squad for the second and third Tests against England in October 2024. In August 2025, the board announced T20 squads for a UAE tri-series and the Asia Cup that did not include Azam, with Salman Ali Agha named captain.
Against England, Pakistan’s innings again showed how fine margins have become. Azam briefly found the boundary twice off Jofra Archer but was bowled by Jamie Overton, leaving Pakistan 73-3 after 10.5 overs. Sahibzada Farhan top-scored with 63 off 45 balls, while Fakhar Zaman made 25 off 16 and Shadab Khan hit 23 off 11. Shaheen Shah Afridi took 4-30, but Brook’s century carried England over the line. – By Content Syndication Services.