Babar Azam nears another major milestone

As Pakistan and South Africa are set to lock horns in the two-match Test series, former captain Babar Azam is nearing another major milestone.

The two-match series is set to commence from October 12^th at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

All eyes will be on Babar Aram, who has been struggling for form with the bat. He is nearing a major milestone on Sunday.

He is just two runs shy of becoming the first Asian batter to score 3,000 runs in the ICC World Test Championship.

Babar has scored 2998 runs so far in just 36 appearances for the Men in Green, at an impressive average of 48.35. He struck eight tons and 18 half-centuries in the WTC.

India’s Test captain Shubman Gill trails behind with 2826 runs in 39 matches so far. Gill has scored 10 tons and eight 50s in the cycle, and is averaging at 43.47.

His teammate Rishab Pant is third in the list with 2731 runs to his name at an average of 43.34 in 38 matches. He scored six centuries and 16 half-centuries.

The second Test will be played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium from 20 to 24 October. The Test matches are part of the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 and will be followed by six white-ball matches (three T20Is and three ODIs) between the two sides from 28 October to 8 November.

The Test series marks the start of a new cycle for the Pakistan Men’s team in the ICC World Test Championship 2025-27 and their first opponents are South Africa – the champions of the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25.

According to a press release issued by PCB, this will also be the first occasion since the inception of the ICC World Test Championship in 2019 that Pakistan will be playing their opening series of a WTC cycle at home.

In the 2019-21 WTC, they began the cycle with an away tour to Australia, while in 2021-23 they began the Championship with a tour of the West Indies. In the previous 2023-25 cycle, Pakistan started their campaign with a tour of Sri Lanka.