Virat Kohli is not even close, Pakistan’s Babar Azam has become the first batsman of 2020 to score…

Babar Azam marked his return to the Pakistan Test side with a half-century and another major batting milestone during the second Test against Bangladesh in Sylhet.After missing the first Test in Mirpur due to injury, Babar scored 68 off 84 balls with 10 boundaries to top score for Pakistan in the first innings. His knock helped Pakistan recover from 79/4 to 232, reducing Bangladesh’s lead to 46 runs.During the innings, Babar also completed 9,000 international runs in the decade of 2020, moving ahead of Joe Root and teammate Mohammad Rizwan on the list of highest run-scorers in international cricket as of January 2020.Babar has now scored 9,060 runs from 231 innings in 212 internationals this decade at an average of 42.53. He also has 17 centuries in this period, the third highest among batsmen after Joe Root and Shubman Gill.Most international runs in the 2020 decade:BatterInningsRunsAverageBabar Azam2319.06042.53Joe Root1778.30551.90Mohammad Rizwan2107.77945.75Kusal Mendis2157.04635.94Pathum Nissanka1986.5Virat7 Kohli1826.77142.31Kohli, who dominated international cricket in the previous decade, is currently sixth on the list. The former Indian captain has scored 6,771 runs from 182 innings in international cricket since January 2020.Kohli is no longer part of India’s set-up in all formats after retiring from T20 Internationals in 2024 and Test cricket in 2025.Between 2010 and 2020, Kohli led the charts with 20,960 runs from 431 innings at an average of 57.58, including 69 centuries and 98 fifties.Meanwhile, Bangladesh remained ahead in the series-deciding Test after bowling out Pakistan for 232 in 57.4 overs.Nahid Rana and Taijul Islam took three wickets each while Taskin Ahmed and Mehidy Hasan Miraz claimed two wickets each.Bangladesh then crossed the 100-run mark in front of the stumps on Day 2, with Mahmudul Hasan Joy scoring 52.