Babar Azam becomes highest scoring Pakistani batter in all formats of a calendar year

Published
9
Skipper Babar Azam during the first day of the first Test match between Pakistan and New Zealand at the National Stadium in Karachi on Monday. — Pakistan Cricket Twitter
Skipper Babar Azam during the first day of the first Test match between Pakistan and New Zealand at the National Stadium in Karachi on Monday. — Pakistan Cricket Twitter

Babar Azam on Monday became the Pakistani batter with the most runs — 2,436 — in all formats of the game in a calendar year.

Babar broke the record of former captain and incumbent batting coach Mohammad Yousaf, who made the record in 2006 with 2,435 runs to his name.

The national team captain played 51 innings in 44 matches in 2022 and averaged 55.30, with his highest score being 196.

According to ESPNcricinfo, the skipper scored eight hundreds and 17 fifties in the outgoing year.

Babar claimed the record on the opening day of the first Test against New Zealand while he was on his way to a century. He led Pakistan’s recovery to 224-4 at tea, after New Zealand’s spinners made early inroads.

Despite the mountain of runs he has piled up this year, Babar’s tally — to which he can still add — was some way short of the world record held by Ricky Ponting, who amassed 2,833 runs in 2005.

Opinion

Editorial

Expanding conflict
31 Jul, 2026

Expanding conflict

WITH neither of the belligerents willing to back down, and the theatre of conflict expanding geographically, the...
Spoils and spats
31 Jul, 2026

Spoils and spats

A FIGHT over assembly seats in Azad Jammu and Kashmir has laid bare what seem to be some deep resentments between ...
Unfair tax system
31 Jul, 2026

Unfair tax system

THE disclosure that the FBR collected nearly Rs1.9tr in sales and income taxes through electricity bills over the...
Debt that stays
30 Jul, 2026

Debt that stays

THE power sector’s circular debt grew by Rs61bn in the last fiscal year, taking the total to roughly Rs1.67tr from...
HIV warning
30 Jul, 2026

HIV warning

THE HIV infections detected around two SESSI-run hospitals in Karachi demand far more than another hurried committee...
End trafficking
30 Jul, 2026

End trafficking

MODERN slavery, in the form of human trafficking, is among the state’s gravest failures. Scores of Pakistanis are...