Pakistan’s stylish opening batter, Shan Masood, has been in an exquisite run of form in all formats over the past year. Shan has scored heavily in all three formats of the game and his form in limited-overs cricket has been remarkable.
Once regarded as a pure Test batter, Shan has responded to his critics by completely transforming his game. Shan’s incredible run in the limited-overs format is backed up by the fact that he has the highest average in the world in List-A cricket among currently active cricketers, ahead of the likes of Babar Azam and Virat Kohli.
Shan has scored 4,540 runs at an average of 57.46 in 95 innings he has played in the 50-over format. Shan is followed by Virat Kohli on the list, who has scored 13,753 runs at an average of 56.83 in 284 innings. Pakistan’s all-format captain, Babar Azam, comes in third with an average of 56.16 in 150 innings.
Here are the top five active cricketers with the highest List-A average:
| Player | Innings | Runs | Average | 100s |
| Shan Masood | 95 | 4,540 | 57.46 | 14 |
| Virat Kohli | 284 | 13,753 | 56.83 | 47 |
| Babar Azam | 150 | 7,358 | 56.16 | 27 |
| Ruturaj Gaikwad | 63 | 3,284 | 54.73 | 11 |
| Cheteshwar Pujara | 101 | 4,4445 | 54.20 | 11 |
*minimum 3,000 runs
Shan’s sublime form has caught the attention of the cricketing fraternity as they have voiced their support for the opener to be included in Pakistan’s limited-overs setup. While Shan is tipped to be included in Pakistan’s next Test squad, it is still unclear whether he is in the management’s plans for the white-ball teams.
The 32-year-old is currently captaining Derbyshire in the T20 Blast in England. He is the second-highest run-scorer in the tournament, having scored 443 runs at an average of 47.00 and a strike rate of 139.60 in 11 innings. He is also leading the charts for the highest run-scorers in County Championship as well.
