Australia's golden opportunity to blaze away with yet another dominating win in the T20Is was halted by the Sydney weather on Sunday as the opening match of the three-game series against Pakistan was truncated by rain. Chasing a revised score of 119 off 15 overs after Pakistan's efforts were ceased in the 13th over, Aussie skipper Aaron Finch made a mockery of Mohammad Irfan in his second over, costing the tall pacer 26 runs. The hosts were halted at 41 for no loss with Finch at 37. For Pakistan, it was once again Babar Azam who shone bright with his unbeaten knock of 59 and thereby surpassed Indian skipper Virat Kohli's T20I record.
The No.1 ranked T20I batsman smashed 59 off 38 and remained the only batsman who played with fluency against the Aussie attack. After the quick dismissal of Fakhar Zaman and Haris Sohail, Babar, the newly-appointed T20I skipper, combined with Mohammad Rizwan to keep Pakistan somewhat sturdy at 38 for two at the end of the powerplay. Pakistan managed to reach 88 for three in 12.4 overs when rain arrived and scored 19 off 14 deliveries after the resumption.
Babar's 59 was only the highest T20I score by a Pakistani skipper on his debut in the format, the knock helped his overhaul Kohli's average of 50.00 in T20Is. Hence, Babar's average of 51.88 is presently the best by a batsman in the shortest format of the game. Overall, he has managed 1349 runs in 34 innings with 11 fifties.
