Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam made history on Sunday, October 12, by becoming the first cricketer from Asia to score 3000 runs in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC).
Babar Azam achieved this landmark during the ongoing first Test against South Africa at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. Batting at No. 4, 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 makes history in the Lahore Test against South Africa
Babar Azam has now joined a select group of international players who have scored 3000 WTC runs, including Australian stars Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, and Usman Khawaja.
Apart from them, England’s batting maestros Joe Root, Ben Stokes, and Zak Crawley have also scored over 3000 runs in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC).
Players with 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: 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: Zak Crawley (52 innings; England)
3003* runs: Babar Azam (37* innings; Pakistan)
2868 runs: Ollie Pope (51 innings; England)
2826 runs: Shubman Gill (39* innings; India)
In the list of Asian batters with the most WTC runs, Babar now leads the table, followed by India’s Shubman Gill with 2826 runs in 39 matches. Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma are next with 2731 and 2716 runs, respectively.
Among Pakistani players, only wicketkeeper-batter Mohammad Rizwan has crossed 2000 WTC runs. Rizwan has 2194 runs in 37 matches to his name, while Test captain Shan Masood has 1663 runs in 28 matches.
Asian players with the most runs in the ICC World Test Championship:
3003* runs: Babar Azam (37* innings; Pakistan)
2826 runs: Shubman Gill (39* innings; India)
2731 runs: Rishabh Pant (38 innings; India)
2716 runs: Rohit Sharma (40 innings; India)
2642 runs: Dimuth Karunaratne (35 innings; Sri Lanka)
2617 runs: Virat Kohli (46 innings; India)
2509 runs: Dhananjaya de Silva (35 innings; Sri Lanka)
2505 runs: Ravindra Jadeja (46 innings; India)
2420 runs: Yashasvi Jaiswal (26 innings; India)
2340 runs: Dinesh Chandimal (32 innings; Sri Lanka)
Shan Masood shines as Pakistan reach 280/5 against South Africa in Lahore
During the innings, Babar scored 23 runs off 48 balls, hitting four boundaries against South Africa. On the other hand, Masood played a stunning knock of 76 runs, and he also added a massive 161-run partnership for the second wicket with Imam-ul-Haq, who missed the century by just 7 runs.
Currently, Rizwan is batting on 50, while Salman Ali Agha is providing the supporting hand with 37* as the hosts have crossed 280 runs with five wickets in hand against South Africa in Lahore.
Earlier, Shan Masood had said at the toss, “We have two seamers in case there is reverse swing. South Africa are the defending WTC champions. Good chance for us to measure ourselves against the best.”