Azhar Ali joins the list of the most successful test cricketers in Pakistan's history
Pakistan's former captain Azhar Ali has been a mainstay on the Pakistan testing team since his debut in 2010. He was one of the most consistent players on the team and one of the highest running hits in Pakistani testing history.
The 36-year-old is also one of the most successful playtesters to have ever played for Pakistan. Pakistan's second test win over Bangladesh was Azhar's 40th test win in Green Jersey, the fourth most for a Pakistani cricketer. Former Pakistani captain Inzamam-ul-Haq holds the record for participating in the most Test wins for Pakistan after winning a total of 49 games.
Here is the list of most successful Test players for Pakistan:
| Player | Wins |
|---|---|
| Inzamam-ul-Haq | 49 |
| Younis Khan | 46 |
| Wasim Akram | 41 |
| Azhar Ali | 40* |
| Javed Miandad, Saleem Malik & Waqar Younis | 39 |
It has also held its own in the country where Pakistan has struggled most. They lost 17 tests in a row in Australia, with Azhar starring in five of them, but he was impeccable averaging 52 and made 2016 a special day / night double century.
Perhaps the aspect of his career that holds Azhar off his size the most is his inability to truly become Pakistan's most important man, the player to be relied on to get results on a regular basis rather than every statement being something remarkable. The opportunity arose at the end of the MisYou era with the symbolic handover of the torch to Azhar and Asad Shafiq at the end of the series in 2017 in the West Indies.
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Azhar Ali has been great for Pakistan throughout his testing career. He has played 91 friendly matches, the sixth most played by a Pakistani player, and has scored 6,721 runs with an average of 42.53. He scored 34 half centuries, 18 centuries, 2 double centuries and a triple century in a testing career of 11 years.
He is the fifth highest run scorer in Pakistan's history and one of only eight batterers to have scored more than 5,000 runs in test cricket. He is fifth on most centuries list and fourth on most fifties list for Pakistan in Tests.