Pakistan's talismanic batter has carried on his superb form in the country's domestic T20 competition, reaching a major landmark in the process
Brilliant Babar breezes past Gayle with new T20 record
Babar Azam's fifth half-century this season has made the Pakistan maestro the fastest player to the landmark of 9000 Twenty20 runs.
Babar achieved the feat in his 245th game on Thursday, breaking Chris Gayle's record of 249 games as his Peshawar Zalmi side made a stunning comeback to eliminate Islamabad United from the Pakistan Super League playoffs by 12 runs.
The 28-year-old is the 16th player to reach the milestone and just the second Pakistani, after Shoaib Malik, who has tallied 12,528 runs through 510 matches - the second-most of any player.
Gayle remains comfortably the top run-scorer in the format, having amassed 14,562 runs in 463 matches throughout his decorated career.
Peshawar will next take on defending champions, the Lahore Qalandars, in the second elimination game on Friday, with the winner going to the rescheduled final against Multan Sultans on Saturday.
Islamabad were crushing the chase at 1-128 after 14 overs on the back of a century stand between Sohaib Maqsood (60) and Alex Hales (57) when Peshawar's unheralded pacers, Salman Irshad (2-18) and Aamer Jamal (2-36), turned the game on its head.
They restricted Islamabad to 6-171 in reply to Peshawar's 8-183.
Earlier, Babar's 64 was rattled off in just 39 balls but once he was dismissed by Shadab Khan in the 13th over, Peshawar lost five wickets for 46 in their last seven overs.