Azhar Ali joins Pakistan´s 5,000 Test club

ABU DHABI (AFP): Consistent Pakistan middle-order batsman Azhar Ali completed 5,000 runs in the longer format during the third day’s play in the first Test against Sri Lanka on Saturday.

The 32-year-old became the eighth Pakistan batsman to reach the milestone in his 61st Test when he took a single to reach a personal score of 32.

Ali made his Test debut against Australia at Lord’s in Pakistan’s neutral venue series in England in 2010 and has since been a consistent performer with the bat.

He became the first-century maker in a day-night Test during his epic triple hundred against the West Indies in Dubai last year.

He scored 1198 runs in 11 Tests in 2016, also including a fighting double hundred against Australia at Melbourne.

Younis Khan is the leading Test run-getter for Pakistan, with 10,099 runs in 118 Tests.

Here is the list of Pakistan batsmen who scored 5,000 or more runs in Test cricket (under Test and runs)

Younis Khan – 118 Tests – 10,099 runs

Javed Miandad – 124 Tests – 8832 runs

Inzamam-ul-Haq – 119 Tests – 8829 runs

Mohammad Yousuf – 90 Tests – 7530 runs

Salim Malik – 103 Tests – 5768 runs

Misbah-ul-Haq – 75 Tests – 5222 runs

Zaheer Abbas – 78 Tests – 5062 runs

Azhar Ali – 61 Tests – 5,000 runs.