Afghanistan’s Mohammad Shahzad notched up 1,779 career T20I runs to surpass Indian skipper Virat Kohli as the fourth-most successful batsman in the shortest format of the game. Shahzad hit his 1,779 runs in 58 T20I matches to go past Kohli’s 1,709 runs from 48 games. He now sits behind former Kiwi skipper Brendon McCullum (2,140 runs), Sri Lanka’s Tillakaratne Dilshan (1,889) and New Zealand’s Martin Guptill (1,806) on the all-time highest run-getters list in T20 Internationals. The 29-year-old Shahzad has an average of 32.34 and a strike rate of 136.84. In comparison, Kohli, who has played 10 fewer T20I matches, has an average of 53.50 and a strike rate of 134.77.
Wicket-kreper-opener Shahzad achieved the feat with his knock of 72 runs in the third of a three-match series between Afghanistan and Ireland in Greater Noida. His contribution helped the Afghans post a target of 234. Ireland could only reply with 205. With the 28-run victory, the Afghans completed a whitewash of the series at the Greater Noida Sports Complex Ground.
Winning streak
Afghanistan are currently on their best-ever winning streak in T20Is having won 11 in a row. They have surpassed England and Ireland’s joint record for most consecutive T20I wins; both nations having managed eight consecutive wins in the past. Afghanistan’s winning run began in March 2016 with a victory over West Indies in Nagpur’s Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium during the World T20. They have gone on to beat the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Ireland since then.
