Babar Azam achieves major WTC feat in first South Africa Test

LAHORE: Star Pakistan batter Babar Azam reached a key milestone during the first Test against South Africa at the Gaddafi Stadium on Sunday, becoming the first Pakistani player to cross the 3,000-run mark in World Test Championship (WTC) history.

The former captain is also just the eighth overall player to achieve this remarkable feat.

The 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.

Apart 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.

The elite list further features four Australian stars, Steve Smith (4,278), Marnus Labuschagne (4,225), Travis Head (3,300) and Usman Khawaja (3,288).

Wicketkeeper 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.

Earlier, Pakistan's 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.

However, Rizwan and Salman's unbeaten 109-run stand helped the home side recover in the opening game of the two-match Test series.

Playing XIs:

Pakistan: 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.

South 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.