Babar Azam enters record books, achieves major WTC feat against England
Pakistan's Babar Azam (AP photo)
Babar Azam reached a significant milestone during Pakistan's fightback against England at Edgbaston on Friday, becoming only the fourth batter to score 2,000 runs as captain in the World Test Championship.The Pakistan batter reached the landmark in the third innings of the third Test against England, joining an exclusive list headed by England's Joe Root, who is also featuring in the match. Ben Stokes and Sri Lanka's Dimuth Karunaratne are the other two batters to have crossed the mark.
Babar got there in 41 innings, making him the third-fastest batter to reach 2,000 WTC runs as captain. Root and Karunaratne share the record for reaching the milestone fastest, having done so in 40 innings.
Stokes took 61 innings to achieve the feat.
Most runs as captain in WTC
| Player | Country | Innings | Runs | Highest Score | Batting Average | Centuries | Fifties |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Root | England | 66 | 3060 | 228 | 48.57 | 8 | 32 |
| Ben Stokes | England | 71 | 2182 | 155 | 32.56 | 3 | 32 |
| Dimuth Karunaratne | Sri Lanka | 45 | 2160 | 244 | 49.09 | 6 | 22 |
| Babar Azam | Pakistan | 41 | 2015 | 196 | 53.02 | 4 | 24 |
| Kraigg Brathwaite | West Indies | 64 | 1994 | 160 | 32.68 | 3 | 24 |
| Virat Kohli | India | 37 | 1349 | 254* | 38.54 | 2 | 16 |
| Tom Latham | New Zealand | 37 | 1338 | 252 | 36.16 | 5 | 9 |
| Rohit Sharma | India | 42 | 1254 | 131 | 30.58 | 4 | 15 |
| Dhananjaya de Silva | Sri Lanka | 31 | 1130 | 120 | 37.66 | 3 | 15 |
| Najmul Hossain Shanto | Bangladesh | 30 | 1130 | 148 | 38.96 | 4 | 12 |
Babar's contribution to the milestone came with a substantial 76 off 103 balls. His innings, which contained 11 boundaries and a six against Jofra Archer, took his WTC tally as captain to 2,015 runs.It was also Babar's first half-century of the three-Test series. He had missed the opening Test because of injury before returning to the Pakistan side.
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