Azhar Ali joins 2000 Test runs club
Azhar Ali
became 30th Pakistani batsman to score 2000 runs in Test cricket
when he reached 56 in the first inning of first Test match against Zimbabwe at
Harare. He needed 51 innings in 28 Test matches in little over three years to
reach this milestone. A total of 266 batsmen have scored 2000 runs or more in
Test cricket which includes 52 batsmen from England, 51 Australia, 33 West
Indies, 32 India, 30 Pakistan, 25 South Africa, 24 New Zealand, 12 Sri Lanka, 4
Zimbabwe and 3 from Bangladesh. Azhar Ali is the only batsman in 2000 Test runs
club who has never played on his home soil. His 28 matches include 18 played on
opponent’s soil and 10 at neutral venues. Javed Miandad holds the record for
most runs in Test career for Pakistan with 8832 runs in 124 Test matches and is
closely followed by Inzamam-ul-Haq’s 8829 runs in 119 Tests. Other six batsmen
with more than 4000 Test runs include Mohammad Yousuf 7530, Younis Khan 6952, Saleem Malik 5768,
Zaheer Abbas 5062, Mudassar Nazar 4114 and Saeed Anwar 4052. Pakistan’s 3000
Test runs club include Majid Khan, Hanif Mohammad, Imran Khan, Mushtaq Mohammad,
Asif Iqbal and Ijaz Ahmed while 2000 Test runs club include Saeed Ahmed,
Tuafeeq Umar, Wasim Akram, Rameez Raja, Aamer Sohail, Wasim Raja, Moin Khan,
Mohsin Khan, Shoaib Mohammad, Kamran Akmal, Sadiq Mohammad, Misbah-ul-Haq,
Imran Farhat, Imtiaz Ahmed, Mohammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali. Out of 2022 runs
that Azhar Ali has scored in Test cricket, 1876 have been scored at number 3
batting position.
Azhar Ali's career is at crossroads. He needs to play few good innings to cement his place otherwise he may not retain his place in the Pakistan team.
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