National team captain and batter Babar Azam became the first Pakistani to score the most number of international runs in a year.
The batter achieved the feat when he scored the 13th run of his innings against New Zealand in the first Test being played at the National Cricket Stadium in Karachi.
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He broke the record set by Pakistan batting coach Mohammad Yousuf when he scored 2,435 runs in 2006. Babar Azam has scored 735 runs in T20, 679 in ODI, and over 1,000 runs in the red ball format of the game.
Babar Azam became the only sixth Pakistani to make 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year in the Test series against England.
The right-handed batter reached this milestone on the third day of the Karachi Test when he reached 45 in his innings. Babar, though, was out after scoring 54.
While this was the seventh occasion of a Pakistani batter scoring 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year, Babar is the sixth cricketer from the country to do so as Younis Khan achieved this feat twice.
Former captain Younis scored 1,179 runs in 2006 and another 1,064 runs in 2014. Mohammad Yousuf leads the chart with 1,788 runs in the year 2006. Other batters in the list from Pakistan include Azhar Ali (1,198 in 2016), Inzamam-ul-Haq (1,090 in 2000), and Mohsin Khan (1,029 in 1982).
Only three other batters have amassed 1,000 runs this year before Babar. English cricketer Joe Root has scored 1,098 runs in 27 innings, Australia’s Usman Khawaja 1,079 runs in 19 innings, and England’s Jonny Bairstow with 1,061 runs in 19 innings.
The star player is in the third spot of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) career-best rankings with 871 points.
Earlier Today in First Karachi Test Match against New Zealand, Pakistan won the toss and choose to bat. Pakistan loses its top order in the early times of the match. Babar Azam and Safraz Ahmed supported the team. Babar scored an unbeatable 161 runs and Sarfraz Ahmed caught out in Slip on 86 runs.
At the end of day Pakistan scores 317 runs for 5 gone. Babar and Salman present at the crease.
