Fawad Alam achieves major landmark in first-class cricket

Fawad becomes 20th Pakistani batter to achieve the milestone

January 15, 2025
Sindh's Fawad Alam plays a shot during the first day of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final against Northern on November 26, 2022. — PCB

KARACHI: Pakistan’s left-handed veteran Fawad Alam on Wednesday, added another feather to his cap as he completed 15000 first-class runs.

The southpaw achieved the milestone in the second-round match of the ongoing President’s Trophy Grade-I match between State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Pakistan Television (PTV) here at the State Bank Stadium.

Fawad scored an anchoring half-century and helped SBP to acquire a massive lead over the last edition’s runners-up.

As a result, the 39-year-old became only the 20th Pakistani batter to achieve the landmark. His average of 55.89 is the highest by any national batter to breach the 15000-run barrier.

The left-handed unorthodox batter made his Test debut in 2009 after a brief stint in white-ball cricket following his debut in 2007.

He scored a century on his Test debut to kick off possibly a glittering career. However, he was dropped from the team after just his third Test the same year.

He had to wait for more than 10 years to make a comeback to the Test side. Meanwhile, he completed his 10,000 runs in domestic cricket. In 2020, he got a chance to make a comeback against England in their backyard.

That series wasn't fruitful for the left-hander but he showed his true power in the next series in New Zealand where he scored a match-saving hundred.

In 2021, he scored three centuries against South Africa, Zimbabwe, and West Indies. Later next year, he was dropped from the playing XI following failures in a three-match Test series against Australia at home and in a Test against Sri Lanka in July.

For the unversed, Fawad Alam has represented Pakistan in 19 Tests, 38 ODIs and 24 T20Is over the course of his roller coaster international career. He was also a part of Pakistan’s squad that won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2009.

Faizan Lakhani is Deputy Editor (Sports) at Geo News.

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