Babar Azam has been going through a lean patch, with his last international century coming in the 2023 Asia Cup match versus Nepal, the elegant right-hander has been able to create an individual landmark in Test cricket. The Pakistani batter is now the first from Asia to go past 3000 runs in the World Test Championship (WTC) a feat neither Virat Kohli nor Rohit Sharma ever managed in their red-ball retirements earlier this year.
Babar achieved this milestone in the opening Test against South Africa at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. His 23-run score in the first innings helped him cross 3021 runs in the WTC. He did this in a mere 37 matches and 67 innings, with 8 centuries and 18 half-centuries scored in between.
Also Read: Pakistan skipper Shan Masood responds to tough question on his captaincy, says ‘We don’t want to…’
In this, Babar became the eighth-highest WTC scorer. At number one is England’s Joe Root, having scored 6080 runs in 69 games. Next are Steve Smith (4278), Marnus Labuschagne (4225), Ben Stokes (3616), and Travis Head (3300). Of Indian batsmen, Shubman Gill leads with 2826 runs from 39 games, though there were two retired giants of the game in the form of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, both of whom finished their WTC careers with 2716 and 2617 runs respectively.
Also Read: Sunil Gavaskar praises Yashasvi Jaiswal gives him one crucial advice – ‘Keep getting…’
Babar Azam looked in good form on Day 1 in the first Test against South Africa where he played some fluent strokes. Despite the promising start he was dismissed at the score of 23 in the final session. By the end of the day 1, Pakistan posted a target of 313 for 5.
