Babar Azam, who was once the famed captain of Pakistan, is now gearing up for his Test comeback against South Africa, with the first of the two Tests commencing on Boxing Day. Babar, who had been dropped from the Test squad after a couple of poor scores, was left out for the last two Tests against England at home. Since August last year, Babar has scored no century in any format, even though during this span, he has played 43 innings across formats. However, the Boxing Day Test starting at Centurion will see Babar eyeing a big milestone in his career.
Babar is now just three runs short of completing 4,000 runs in Test cricket. If he gets to the milestone, Babar will become the first Pakistan batsman to score 4000 Test runs, 5000 ODI runs and 2000 T20 runs. Considering his overall score at 3,997 in Test matches by now, Babar is coasting along to his underline calculation with beauty: 55 for an average of 54.46, 9 centuries. However, it has crossed more than two years since Babar reached the triple digit scores in Test cricket.
His last century in Test was a brace of 161 runs against New Zealand at Karachi in December 2022. In fact he scored less; just 366 runs in 18 innings and not a single half-century as yet. The 1st Test against South Africa, into which BaBhar has been recalled, will see him continue batting at no. 3 with opener Abdullah Shafique having been dropped from the team.
Centurion will feature Kamran Ghulam batting on number 4 in the first Test of the series. He scored a century on debut early this year against England.
Pakistan will have their captain Shan Masood open the batting with rising talent Saim Ayub.
Meanwhile, paceman Mohammed Abbas returns to Pakistan. He last played in whites in Kingston in August 2021 against the West Indies.
Pakistan’s XI vs South Africa, 1st Test:
Shan Masood, Saim Ayub, Babar Azam, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Saud Shakeel, Salman Agha, Aamer Jamal, Naseem Shah, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Abbas
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