Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam on Monday became the only sixth Pakistani to amass 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year in the Test series against England.
On the third day of the Karachi Test against the Englishmen, Babar accomplished this milestone when his innings reached 45. Babar, though, was disqualified having scored 54.
Babar is the sixth cricketer from Pakistan to accomplish this milestone since Younis Khan twice performed it. This was the seventh time a Pakistani batsman had scored 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year.
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).
Before Babar, only three other batters had amassed 1,000 runs for the year. Joe Root of England has 1,098 runs in 27 innings, Usman Khawaja of Australia has 1,079 runs in 19 innings, and Jonny Bairstow of England has 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.
Babar’s third place comes after Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith — who are in the first and second spots respectively.
