Former captain becomes first Pakistani player to cross 3,000-run mark in WTC history
\n Lahore
\nFormer Pakistan captain Babar Azam marked a major achievement in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) during the first Test against South Africa at the Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday.
\nThe star batter crossed the 3,000-run mark in WTC history, becoming the first Pakistani and eighth overall player to achieve this remarkable feat.
\nThe right-handed batter reached the milestone in his 37th Test match, having already registered 18 half-centuries and eight centuries in the WTC so far.
\nApart from the Pakistan batter, the list of players with over 3,000 runs in the WTC includes three England batters, Zak Crawley (3,041), Ben Stokes (3,616) and Joe Root (6,080), who also holds the record for the most runs in WTC history.
\nThe elite list further features four Australian stars, Steve Smith (4,278), Marnus Labuschagne (4,225), Travis Head (3,300) and Usman Khawaja (3,288).
\nWicketkeeper batter Mohammad Rizwan was unbeaten on 60, alongside Salman Ali Agha (49)* as Pakistan reached 308 for five in 86 overs at the time of filing this story.
\nEarlier, Pakistan\u2019s middle order collapsed from 163-1 to 199-5 after a 161-run stand between skipper Shan Masood and Imam-ul-Haq helped Pakistan to recover following an early blow.
\nHowever, Rizwan and Salman\u2019s unbeaten 109-run stand helped the home side recover in the opening game of the two-match Test series.
\nPlaying XIs:
\nPakistan: Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Shan Masood (c), Babar Azam, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Salman Agha, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi, Noman Ali, Sajid Khan.
\nSouth Africa: Tony de Zorzi, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Aiden Markram (c), Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Sen Muthusamy, Prenelan Subrayen, Kagiso Rabada, Simon Harmer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former captain becomes first Pakistani player to cross 3,000-run mark in WTC history Lahore Former Pakistan captain Babar Azam marked a major achievement in the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) during the first Test against South Africa at the Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday. The star batter crossed the 3,000-run mark in WTC history, becoming the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":508317,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-508305","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n