Win or loss, in high or low – Pakistan team has had a very Pakistan team 2022. One thing that has been constant in these ups and downs it is Babar Azam scoring runs. Irrespective of the format, irrespective of whether it’s a spicy, pacy surface or one that turned a lot of absolute flatbed, Babar Azam hasn’t failed to plunder runs.
And he did again, on Monday, in the first Test against New Zealand in Karachi. Azam won the toss and elected to bat first at the National Stadium.
Babar would have hoped to have his feet up in the dressing room for a while. However, he was in the middle, rear-guarding a top-order collapse, as early as in the 6th over, at the score of 19/2, after Ajaz Patel and Michael Bracewell dismissed Shafique and Masood; Bracewell struck again to dismiss Imam leaving Pakistan reeling at 48/3 in the first hour of play. Saud Shakeel was the next to be dismissed.
From thereon, though, Babar fought valiantly, and to partner him was the returning former captain and wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed.
The pair put up a superb partnership of 196 runs from 340 balls before Sarfraz departed after scoring an applaudable knock of 86 runs, but Babar, even after raising this three-figure score, continued fighting and defying the Kiwi bowlers for the Pakistani captain knew there is a bigger task at his hand: to take his team to a good first innings total.
By the end of the day, Pakistan are 317/7, with Babar unbeaten on 161, having stroked 15 fours and a six.
Here are some records Babar Azam has achieved recently:
With 2584 runs in 2022, Babar Azam now holds the record for the most runs in a calendar year by a Pakistan batter, going past Mohammad Yousuf’s aggregate of 2435 runs in 2006.
Babar now holds the record for most scores of 50 or more in a calendar year in international cricket. This was Babar’s 25th 50+ score, surpassing Ricky Ponting’s record of 24 in 2005.
Babar is the leading Test run-scorer in 2022 with 1170 runs in 16 innings, having raised 7 fifties and 4 hundreds.
He has been ruling the ODIs too this year. In 9 ODI knocks in 2022, Babar has scored 679 runs with the help of 5 fifties and 3 centuries. His average of 84 in the format is the highest among all batsmen who have scored over 500 runs this year.
