Pakistan captain Babar Azam on Sunday equalled the T20 World Cup record for the most half-centuries in a single edition after reaching his 25th fifty in the ongoing match against Scotland at Sharjah.

Babar brought up the milestone in 40 balls to match Matthew Hayden and Virat Kohli’s T20 World Cup record. Hayden, who is Pakistan’s batting coach in this tournament, was the first to hit 4 fifties in the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa which was repeated by Kohli in the 2014 edition in Sri Lanka.

Both Hayden and Kohli had top-scored in the said editions with 265 and 319 runs, respectively, from 6 games each. Babar went past England’s Jos Buttler and now holds the top position with 264 runs while Pakistan still have a match to play in the semi-finals.

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Babar has the third-most fifties in T20Is behind Kohli (29) and his deputy Rohit Sharma (27). Babar’s four fifties in this T20 WC have come against India (68*), Afghanistan (51), Namibia (70) and Scotland (66).

Babar though, leads the list of captains with most 50-plus scores in T20 internationals with this one being his 15th. Kohli is behind his Pakistani counterpart with 13 fifties as India captain ahead of Australian skipper Aaron Finch (11) and New Zealand leader Kane Williamson (11).

The 27-year-old also broke Virat Kohli’s record for the most fifties in a calendar year in T20 cricket with this one being his 19th of 2021. Kohli had hit 18 during his stellar year in 2016 while Chris Gayle (16 in 2012), Mohammad Rizwan (15* in 2021) complete the top four.

Babar was eventually dismissed for 66 off 47 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes in the 18th over of Pakistan’s innings which ended with a superb finish provided by all-rounder Shoaib Malik, who smashed 54 not out off 18 balls that included 3 sixes in the final over to help the Men in Green reach 189 for 4 in 20 overs after electing to bat first.

Pakistan have already qualified for the semi-finals but will top the Group 2 table if they beat Scotland tonight. They will also be the first team to win all 5 games in the Super 12s in this edition if they manage to defend 190.