Babar Azam is set to play for Pakistan again on Wednesday (August 21), after being away for over two months. He will join the team led by Shan Masood in the first Test match of a two-game series against Bangladesh. This opening match will be held at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. In this first Test, 29-year-old Babar has the opportunity to make history by becoming the first Pakistani and the third player globally to reach 4000 runs in all three formats.
Babar, who first played for Pakistan in an ODI against Zimbabwe in Lahore on May 31, 2015, has scored 3898 runs in the 52 Test matches he has played so far. He needs 102 more runs to reach the 4000-run milestone in the five-day format of the game.
He has also scored 5729 runs in 117 One Day Internationals (ODIs) and 4145 runs in 123 Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) for the Pakistani team.
Former Indian captain Virat Kohli was the first player globally to score 4000 runs in all three cricket formats. He reached this milestone during India’s T20 World Cup 2022 semifinal game against England in Adelaide on November 10. The 35-year-old right-handed batsman has scored 8848 runs in Test matches, 13906 runs in ODIs, and 4188 runs in T20Is.
Indian captain Rohit Sharma also achieved this feat during the T20 World Cup 2024 match between India and Ireland in New York on June 5. He has scored 4137 runs in 59 Test matches and has a total of 10,866 runs in 265 ODIs and 4231 runs in 159 T20Is.
PLAYER COUNTRY TEST RUNS ODI RUNS T20I RUNS
Virat Kohli India 8848 13,906 4188
Rohit Sharma India 4137 10,866 4231
Babar Azam Pakistan 3898 5729 4145
Babar, who stopped being Pakistan’s leader in Test matches last year, will play as the fourth batter in the first Test. Saim Ayub will start the batting for Pakistan, along with Abdullah Shafique, and team leader Shan Masood will bat third. Pakistan has chosen Mohammad Rizwan instead of the previous captain, Sarfaraz Ahmed, as the wicketkeeper-batter in the team, and Shaheen Shah Afridi will be in charge of the four-player fast bowling group.
