Babar Azam has become the batsman with the lowest strike rate (111.5) among those who have scored 500+ runs in the T20 World Cup. In the Super-8 match, England defeated Pakistan by 2 wickets with Harry Brook’s century and became the first team to reach the semi-finals.
Pallekele: Pakistan’s star batsman Babar Azam has made a record in the T20 World Cup, which no player would want to make. Now he has become the player with the lowest strike rate among the batsmen who have scored more than 500 runs in the history of T20 World Cup. His slow innings in the Super 8 match against England in Pallekele on Tuesday became the reason for this shameful record.
In this important Super 8 match against England, Babar Azam could score only 25 runs on 24 balls. He was bowled by Jamie Overton. His innings included only two fours. Babar has so far been able to score only 91 runs in 6 matches of this World Cup.
Slowest among those who scored 500 runs in T20 World Cup
Babar’s strike rate is only 111.5 in the list of batsmen who have scored more than 500 runs in the T20 World Cup. In this matter he is now at the bottom. Earlier, this bad record was in the name of former Pakistani player Mohammad Hafeez, whose strike rate was 111.8. Now Babar has left them behind too. Not only this, Kumar Sangakkara (112.2), Kane Williamson (112.5) and Mohammad Rizwan (113.0) are also better than Babar in this matter.
In the match against England, when captain Salman Aga was out in the powerplay, Babar came to the crease. He made a good start by hitting fours on the last two balls of Joffra Archer’s fifth over. Then he had scored 10 runs in 6 balls and it seemed that he would play a big innings. But after this he could not hit even a single boundary. Finally, Jamie Overton bowled him on the last ball of the 11th over. At that time his score was 25 runs on 24 balls.
Was the change in batting order costly?
Babar, who opened first, is batting at number four and five in this World Cup. It is believed that this change in the batting order has affected his performance. Babar, who scored 4571 runs in 135 innings in his T20 career, has an overall strike rate of 128.18, but in the World Cup it has fallen to 111.5, which is a matter of concern for the Pakistan team.
England reached the semi-finals
Pallekele: Thanks to Harry Brook’s brilliant century, England has become the first team to reach the semi-finals of the 2026 ICC T20 World Cup. In the Super-8 match against Pakistan on Tuesday, England achieved a thrilling victory by 2 wickets.
Pakistan’s first match was washed out due to rain. Now after this defeat, Pakistan’s semi-final hopes have suffered a big blow. Batting first in the match, Pakistan scored 164 runs losing 9 wickets. Sahibzada Farhan played an inning of 63 runs.
While chasing this target, England had at one time lost 4 wickets for 58 runs and the team was in trouble. But captain Brook took charge of the team by scoring a century in 50 balls. He scored 100 runs in 51 balls with the help of 10 fours and 4 sixes and was out. Will Jacques’ 28 runs also played an important role in the victory. England won the match in 19.1 overs.
Score: Pakistan 164/9 in 20 overs (Farhan 63, Dawson 3-24, Archer 2-32), England 166/8 in 19.1 overs (Brooke 100, Jacques 28, Afridi 4-30)