Babar Azam surpasses Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill; becomes first Asian batter to achieve major WTC record

Babar Azam both Virat Kohli and Subman Gill became the first Asian batsman to reach 300 runs in the World Test Championship. This remarkable feat was revealed at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Sunday. Following Shan Masood’s dismissal, Babar took to the crease needing just three runs to reach the 300-run milestone.

The elegant right-handed batsman achieved this important milestone with a flick that came off the inside edge of the South African spinner. Senuran Muthusamy raced towards the boundary in the 49th over of Pakistan’s innings. By doing this, Babar moved ahead of current Indian skipper Gill (2826), Rishabh Pant (2731), Rohit Sharma (2716) and Virat Kohli (2617) in the Asian scorers list.

Most runs in World Test Championship history

Joe Root (ENG): 6080 runs in 69 matches

Steve Smith (Australia): 4278 runs in 55 matches

Marnus Labuschagne (Australia): 4225 runs in 53 matches

Ben Stokes (ENG): 3616 runs in 57 matches

Travis Head (Australia): 3300 runs in 52 matches

Usman Khawaja (Australia): 3288 runs in 43 matches

Zak Crawley (ENG): 3041 runs in 52 matches

Babar Azam (PAK): 3021 runs in 37 matches

Before Babar’s milestone, Australian players Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head and Usman Khawaja and England’s Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Zak Crawley had reached the 3000-run mark in the WTC.

In terms of Asian batsmen leading the WTC run charts, Babar is closely followed by India’s Test captain Subman Gill accumulated 2826 runs in 39 matches. Rishabh Pant and Rohit Sharma are at the third and fourth positions with 2731 and 2716 runs respectively.

Besides Babar, Mohammad Rizwan stands out as the only other Pakistani player to surpass 2000 runs in the WTC, having scored a total of 2256 runs in 37 matches.

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