Babar Azam, the captain of Pakistan, added another achievement to his resume on Monday when he became the first Pakistani to record the most international runs in a calendar year.
In the first Test match taking place at the National Bank Cricket Arena in Karachi, the flamboyant batsman accomplished the record when he scored the 13th run of his inning against New Zealand.
When he hit 2,435 runs in 2006, he smashed the previous mark held by Pakistan’s batting coach Mohammad Yousuf.
Babar Azam has scored over 1,000 runs in the red ball variant of the game and 735 runs in T20, 679 runs in ODI.
In the Test series against England last week, Babar Azam became the sole sixth Pakistani to accumulate 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year.
On the third day of the Karachi Test, the right-handed hitter attained this milestone when his innings reached 45. Babar, however, was dismissed despite scoring 54.
Babar is the sixth cricketer from Pakistan to accomplish this accomplishment since Younis Khan twice did it. This was the seventh time a Pakistani batsman had scored 1,000 Test runs in a calendar year.
Babar’s third place comes after Australia’s Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith — who are in the first and second spots respectively.
