Pakistan’s star batsman Babar Azam made history on Sunday, October 12, by becoming the first Asian cricketer to score 3,000 runs in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC).
Babar Azam achieved this milestone during the first Test against South Africa being played at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Batting at number four, the former Pakistan captain hit a boundary off Senuran Muthusamy’s fourth ball of the 49th over to reach the milestone in Lahore.
Babar Azam creates history in Lahore Test against South Africa
Babar Azam joins a select group of international players who have scored 3000 runs at the WTC, including Australian star Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head and Usman Khawaja.
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Apart from them, England batting maestros Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Zak Crawley have also scored over 3000 runs in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC).
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Players who have scored the most runs in the ICC World Test Championship:
6080 runs: Joe Root (60 innings, England)
4278 runs: Steve Smith (55 innings, Australia)
4225 runs conceded: Marnus Labuschagne (53 innings, Australia)
3616 runs: Ben Stokes (57 innings, England)
3300 runs: Travis Head (52 runs; Australia)
3288 runs: Usman Khawaja (43 runs; Australia)
3041 runs conceded: Zac Crawley (52 innings, England)
3003* Runs Conceded: Babar Azam (37* innings, Pakistan)
2868 runs: Ollie Pope (51 innings, England)
2826 runs: Shubman Gill (39 innings*, India)
Babar leads the list of Asian batsmen with the most runs in WTC, followed by India’s Shubman Gill with 2826 runs in 39 matches. Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma were next with 2731 and 2716 runs respectively.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizwan is the only Pakistani player to have made more than 2,000 WTC appearances. Rizwan has scored 2194 runs in 37 matches while Test captain Shan Masood has scored 1663 runs in 28 matches.
Asian players who have scored the most runs in the ICC World Test Championship:
3003* Runs Conceded: Babar Azam (37* innings, Pakistan)
2826 runs: Shubman Gill (39 innings*, India)
2731 runs conceded: Rishabh Pant (38 innings, India)
2716 runs: Rohit Sharma (40 innings, India)
2642 runs conceded: Dimuth Karunaratne (35 innings, Sri Lanka)
2617 runs: Virat Kohli (46 innings, India)
2509 runs conceded: Dhananjaya de Silva (35 innings, Sri Lanka)
2505 runs: Ravindra Jadeja (46 innings, India)
2420 runs conceded: Yashvi Jaiswal (26 innings, India)
2340 runs: Dinesh Chandimal (32 innings, Sri Lanka)
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Shan Masood shines during Pakistan vs South Africa match in Lahore, reaches 280/5
During the innings, Babar scored 23 runs off 48 balls against South Africa, scoring four times. Masood, on the other hand, played a stunning knock of 76 runs and also added a massive partnership of 161 runs for the second wicket with Imam-ul-Haq, who missed out on the century by just seven runs.
Currently, Rizwan is batting at 50 and Salman Ali Agha is assisting him with 37* as the hosts scored over 280 runs with five wickets against South Africa in Lahore.
Earlier, while raising the toss, Shan Masood said: “We have two seamers in case there is a reverse swing. South Africa are the defending WTC champions. It’s a good opportunity for us to compare ourselves against the strongest teams.”