Former captain and Pakistan batting stalwart Babar Azam became the highest run-getter in T20 Internationals to leave behind Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Babar achieved the feat while scoring 11 from 18 balls in the second T20Is against South Africa in Lahore on Friday night. But a close look at the statistics of the top five T20 run getters also gives a clear picture of why Babar was sidelined from the Pakistan T20 side since December 2024 before he was surprisingly recalled for the South Africa series.
The statistics shows that Babar has now scored 4234 runs in 123 matches at an average of 39.57 but the telling stats are his strike and number of sixes hit compared to the others in the list. Babar has the lowest strike rate 128.77 and least number of sixes (73) hit in the list that has Rohit, Kohli, Jos Butler and Paul Sterling. Rohit has a strike rate of 140.89 and has hit 205 sixes in his career, Virat has a strike rate of 137.04 and has hit 124 sixes.
Butler has a strike rate of 148.97 and he has smashed 172 sixes while Ireland’s Sterling has a strike rate of 134.86 and has hit 133 sixes. In T20 cricket, experts give more importance to strike rates and ability to hit sixes than batting averages. When Babar was first dropped from the T20 side reasons given were his inability to have a higher strike rate and hit boundaries and sixes in demanding situations.
Gemma Dryburgh’s first and only LPGA Tour victory came three years ago in Japan. On Thursday the 32-year-old Scottish player shot a 7-under 65 at the Maybank Classic to put herself in position for a second victory in Asia. Dryburgh’s seventh birdie of the day on the 18th hole at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club left her a stroke out of the first-round lead held by Hye-Jin Choi. Choi’s 64 included an eagle at the par-five 3rd hole and a birdie on the 18th.
Dryburgh was tied for second with Benedetta Moresco of Italy. “It was a very stress-free round,” Dryburgh said. The humid and hot weather was much different from her native Scotland, but her hometown in the United States — New Orleans, where she attended Tulane University — helped prepare her for the conditions.
“Yes, it was very different from Scotland, but living where I do now helped me on a day like today,” Dryburgh said. “I like how the greens are kind of similar to where I play in New Orleans, grainy. So it kind of suits my eye.” Among the seven players tied for fourth with 66s, two strokes behind Choi, were Lydia Ko, Hannah Green, Ingrid Lindblad, Arpichaya Yubol and Somi Lee.
Choi said she made some good recovery shots Thursday which helped to take the first-round lead. “I had a lot of situations which I could make bogeys because of rough and hazard, but I made a lot of good pars,” Choi said. Defending champion Yin Ruoning shot 68, as did world No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul. Thitikul, the only multiple winner on the LPGA Tour this year after winning the Mizuho Americas Open in May and again in Shanghai nearly three weeks ago, has finished runner-up the last two times she has played in Malaysia.
“I think it just kinds of feel like comfortable to play here,” she said ahead of the first round. “The course, the weather, and also the fans seem like second home to me. I feel like it seems like a mini-Thailand.” Last week Australia won the International Crown team event in South Korea. Next week, the LPGA ends its five-week Asian swing with the Japan Classic at Shiga, site of Dryburgh’s win in 2022.