Hafeez, Malik eye T20I records in England series

Pakistan will be up against England in a three-match T20I series starting from Friday. All three games will be played at the Old Trafford, Manchester.

Hafeez and Malik eye records

The two veteran all-rounders Mohammad Hafeez and Shoaib Malik will be eying some records in the aforementioned series.

Malik needs 216 runs to replace Marin Guptill (2,536) as third highest run-getter in the format. If he does it, he would be only behind Rohit Sharma (2,773) and Virat Kohli (2,794) in terms of runs.

The 38-year-old also needs 108 more to become only the third batsman in the world to 10,000 runs in 20 overs cricket. At the moment, only two batsmen – Kieron Pollard (10,056) and Chris Gayle (13,296) – are in this club.

Hafeez (1,992) needs eight runs to become only the second Pakistan batsman and nineth in the world to reach 2,000 runs milestone. If he gets there, he would also become the first player in Men’s T20Is to register a double of 2,000 runs and 50 wickets.

Babar’s favourite destination

The world number one T20 batsman will return to the venue where he received his T20I cap. Babar Azam made his T20I debut in Pakistan’s nine wickets win against England at Old Trafford four years ago. He has loved playing in England since then.

ALSO READ: Babar Azam eager to score his first T20I century against England

With 578 runs for Somerset, he was the top run-getter in the T20 Blast, England’s domestic 20-over competition, last year. Of his three centuries in T20 cricket, two have come in England. One for Somerset in the T20 Blast 2019 and one for Pakistan in a warm-up fixture, with official T20 status, against Leicestershire in 2019.

Babar has played 16 T20s in the United Kingdom and amassed 759 runs at an average of 58.38, his highest in any country, and a strike-rate of 150.89. In addition to two centuries, he also has five half-centuries on these shores.

Pakistan looking to rise in the rankings

A three-nil win over England will see Pakistan jump to the second spot in the ICC Men’s T20I Team Rankings.

Currently placed at four, Pakistan will be looking to get close to the top position, which they lost earlier this year after the annual rankings update on 1 May. Pakistan were the number one T20 team for over two years during which they had a stretch of 11 consecutive T20I series wins.