Babar Azam completed 3000 WTC runs as the first Asian
Babar Azam completed 3000 WTC runs as the first Asian during the first Test against South Africa at Gaddafi Stadium. South Africa, the champion of the ICC World Test Championship 2025, started their title defense against Pakistan on 12 October 2025. Pakistan won the toss and opted to bat first on the spin-friendly pitch of Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. Babar Azam came on the crease at number 4 and became first Asian to score 3000 WTC runs in this contest. The stylish batter achieved this milestone after scoring just 2 runs to complete his 3000 ICC World Test Championship runs.
Babar Azam WTC runs Record
The star batter, Babar Azam started his Test cricket journey in October 2016 against the West Indies at Dubai International Cricket Stadium. He has played 59 Tests and completed 4235 runs in this format of cricket with 9 hundreds. Babar has played 37 contests in WTC after its start in 2019.
Also Read: Markram’s men are ready to face Pakistan’s spin attack
Babar Azam Test Championship 3000 runs have been completed in the 48th over of the first Test when Babar smashed a boundary. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the great Test players, have not achieved this milestone in the longest format of cricket. Babar Azam has completed the record WTC 3000 runs in just 37 matches.
Babar Azam’s WTC career stats
The ICC World Test Championship started in 2019 for the first time when Babar smashed 616 Test runs in this year. Babar scored with an average of 68.44 in the longest format of cricket this year. He consistently dominated Test cricket and improved his average to greater heights. He smashed runs in 2020 and 2022 with an average of 67.60 and 69.65, respectively. The downfall has started in his Test journey after 2023, as he scored with an average of just 23.60 after that. This series gives him a great opportunity to improve his Test stats and strengthen his position.
Highest WTC runs by Asian Batters
Batters | Runs | Matches | Average |
Babar Azam | 3021 | 37 | 47.95 |
Shubman Gill | 2826 | 39 | 43.47 |
Rishab Pant | 2731 | 38 | 43.34 |
Rohit Sharma | 2716 | 40 | 41.15 |
Dimuth Karunaratne | 2642 | 35 | 40.64 |
Virat Kohli | 2617 | 46 | 35.36 |
Also Read: Pat Cummins’ injury update ahead of Ashes 2025
Most Runs in WTC History
Batters | Runs | Matches | Average |
Joe Root (ENG) | 6080 | 69 | 52.86 |
Steve Smith (AUS) | 4278 | 55 | 49.74 |
M Labuschagne (AUS) | 4225 | 53 | 48.01 |
Ben Stokes (ENG) | 3616 | 57 | 37.66 |
Travis Head (AUS) | 3300 | 52 | 40.24 |
Usman Khawaja (AUS) | 3288 | 43 | 45.04 |
Z Crawley (ENG) | 3041 | 52 | 32.35 |
Babar Azam (PAK) | 3021 | 37* | 47.95 |
In this way, Babar has become the eighth batter in the list of most Test runs in the ICC WTC history.
- Babar Azam also has a great opportunity during the ongoing Test series against South Africa to achieve another milestone. He needs just 228 runs to complete his 15000 runs in international cricket for Pakistan. In this way, he would become the 5th Pakistani batter to achieve this feat.