Former Pakistan Test and ODI Captain Azhar Ali will play his 100th Test Match vs New Zealand in Pakistan’s final ICC World Test Championship series for the 2021-2023 cycle.
Provided Azhar doesn’t miss any of Pakistan’s upcoming Tests at home to Australia, away in Sri Lanka and at home to England before that and those series do not change in length of being 3 Tests, 2 Tests and 3 Tests respectively, Azhar’s 100th Test appearance for Pakistan will be the opening Test of the series against the current ICC World Test Champions.
Only five Pakistani cricketers have reached the milestone of 100 Test Matches. They are Javed Miandad, Saleem Malik, Wasim Akram, Inzamam ul Haq and Younis Khan.
Azhar Ali has scored 18 Test centuries for Pakistan and has also made 3 centuries for his country in one day internationals.
He made his Test debut in 2010 vs Australia at Lord’s in the first neutral Test held on English soil since 1912. Notably he made his debut in the same Test Match as Steve Smith and Tim Paine.
And talking of neutral Tests, Azhar may get the chance to play another neutral Test Match in England next year if Pakistan can qualify for the ICC World Test Championship final in 2023. Azhar has talked about the opportunity of winning a World Test Championship as a career incentive for him before he finishes with the Test game. The top order batsman made these remarks prior to the Test series in the West Indies last August which was tied 1-1.
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