Babar Azam Equals Modern Test Greats in WTC Record Books With Comeback Innings Against Bangladesh

Babar Azam has entered the World Test Championship record books with a pivotal half-century against Bangladesh in Sylhet, strengthening both his personal milestones and Pakistan’s fight in the second Test.

Babar Azam’s new WTC milestone

Pakistan captain Babar Azam scored a composed fifty in the second Test against Bangladesh at the Sylhet International Stadium on Sunday. With this knock, he reached his 20th half-century in World Test Championship matches. As a result, he moved into joint-third place on the all-time list of WTC fifties.

Babar now sits alongside Australia’s Steve Smith and England opener Zak Crawley, who also have 20 WTC half-centuries each. Only England great Joe Root and Australia star Marnus Labuschagne sit ahead of them. Root has 22 fifties in the competition, while Labuschagne leads the chart with 24.

WTC half-century leaders

Here is the updated list of players with the most fifties in World Test Championship history.

• Marnus Labuschagne (Australia) – 24 fifties
• Joe Root (England) – 22 fifties
• Babar Azam (Pakistan) – 20 fifties*
• Steve Smith (Australia) – 20 fifties
• Zak Crawley (England) – 20 fifties

The asterisk next to Babar’s tally underlines that his WTC journey is still active. Therefore, he has ample time to climb even higher on this list in the upcoming series.