LAHORE: Pakistan’s star batter Babar Azam achieved a key milestone in the first Test against South Africa at the Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday, becoming the first Pakistani player to cross the 3,000-run mark in the history of the World Test Championship (WTC).
The former captain is also only the eighth player overall to achieve this remarkable feat.
The right-handed batter reached this milestone in his 37th Test match, having already registered 18 half-centuries and eight centuries in the WTC so far.
Apart from the Pakistani batter, the list of players with over 3,000 runs in the WTC includes three English batters, Zak Crawley (3,041), Ben Stokes (3,616) and Joe Root (6,080), who also holds the record for the most runs in the history of the WTC.
The elite list also includes four Australian stars, Steve Smith (4,278), Marnus Labuschagne (4,225), Travis Head (3,300) and Usman Khawaja (3,288).
Wicket-keeper batting Mohammad Rizwan was unbeaten on 60, alongside Salman Ali Agha (49)* as Pakistan reached 308 for five overs in 86 at the time of writing.
Earlier, Pakistan’s middle order collapsed 163-1 to 199-5 after a 161-run stand-off stand between skipper Shan Masood and Imam-ul-Haq helped Pakistan recover from an early blow.
However, Rizwan and Salman’s unbeaten 109 runs helped the home side recover in the opening match of the two-match Test series.
Playing XIs:
Pakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (c), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (week), Salman Agha, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan.
South Africa: Tony de Zorzi, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Aiden Markram (C), Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Kyle Verreynne (WC), Sen Muthusamy, Prenelan Subrayen, Kagiso Rabada, Simon Harmer.
