Babar Azam, the captain and lead hitter for Pakistan, later became the first Asian cricketer to accumulate 10,000 international runs in the shortest amount of time. By surpassing former Indian captain Virat Kohli, Babar Azam accomplished this magnificent milestone. This accomplishment was made by the Pakistani captain during his outstanding innings against Sri Lanka in the first Test at Galle.
We look at the top 5 quickest Asian players to score 10000 International runs:
1. Babar Azam – 228 innings
Babar Azam completed his record against Sri Lanka. Pakistan attempted to chase down a 223 first innings mark. Babar Azam accepted the duty to lead his side out of this plight after as many as six batsmen managed single-digit runs.
2. Virat Kohli – 232 innings
When his team, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), played the Mumbai Indians in Dubai, Virat Kohli became the first Indian batter to reach 10,000 runs in Twenty20 cricket.
3. Sunil Gavaskar – 243 innings
Ijaz Faqih, a Pakistani spinner, was the bowler against whom Gavaskar scored his 10,000th Test run. He said, “once you get to that 10,000 it is absolutely magical. Magical because it had not been done before. Even 9,000 had not been done before, and I did it. But 9,000 is a four-digit number. 10,000 is a five-digit number, so it was almost like climbing Mt Everest for the first time.”
4. Javed Miandad – 248 innings
A former Pakistani batsman known for his unconventional batting style; Javed Miandad was dubbed as the greatest batman Pakistan ever produced. He was praised by his contemporaries Ian Chappell and others as one of the greatest batsman in cricket history.
5. Sourav Ganguly – 253 innings
When he reached his 10,000 runs mark, he was only the third batsman after Sachin Tendulkar and Pakistani Inzamam-ul-Haq, to achieve so. The 33-year-old was making his comeback to international cricket after serving a four-match suspension when he accomplished the feat with a single to cover off Dilhara Fernando.
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