Pakistan’s captain Babar Azam continued to add records to his name during Pakistan’s first innings against New Zealand at the National Bank Cricket Arena in Karachi.
With his 105* (at the time of writing) Azam broke Mohammad Yousuf’s record for the most runs scored in a calendar year by a Pakistan batter. Yousuf, the current batting coach of the Pakistan national team, scored an aggregate of 2435 runs in 2006.
Babar surpassed the mark when he remained not out on 54 at lunch completing 2477 runs across all formats in 2022.
With his half-century, he now also holds the record for most scores of 50 or more in a calendar year with Babar’s 25th 50+ score surpassing Ricky Ponting’s record of 24 in 2005.
Despite Pakistan’s shaky stats as a team, Babar Azam has continued to set personal records this year.
He has crossed the 1000 runs mark in 9 tests this calendar year. Only three other batters have managed to hit the four-figure mark in Tests with Babar leading all of them.
A similar story has followed the 28-year-old in ODI cricket this year as well. He has scored 679 runs in nine matches while registering scores of 50 or more in 8 of those games.
His talents were once again on display against New Zealand during the first test match between the two sides as he rescued his team from a dreadful start to give them a fighting chance.
Most runs by Pakistan player in a calendar year:
| Rank | Player | Matches | Runs | Year |
| 1 | Babar Azam | 44 | 2477* | 2022 |
| 2 | Mohammad Yousuf | 33 | 2435 | 2006 |
| 3 | Saeed Anwar | 43 | 2296 | 1996 |
| 4 | Mohammad Yousuf | 41 | 2226 | 2002 |
| 5 | Inzamam-ul-Haq | 46 | 2164 | 2000 |
| 6 | Babar Azam | 36 | 2082 | 2019 |
| 7 | Misbah-ul-Haq | 42 | 2078 | 2013 |
| 8 | Mohammad Yousuf | 53 | 2000 | 2000 |
| 9 | Younis Khan | 48 | 1947 | 2002 |
| 10 | Mohammad Rizwan | 44 | 1915 | 2021 |
*Babar Azam is still adding to the total (at the time of writing).
