Azhar Ali

Pakistan|Top order Batter
Azhar Ali
INTL CAREER: 2010 - 2022
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Full Name

Azhar Ali

Born

February 19, 1985, Lahore, Punjab

Age

39y 29d

Batting Style

Right hand Bat

Bowling Style

Legbreak

Playing Role

Top order Batter

Armed with a compact technique and large reserves of patience, opening batter Azhar Ali established himself as one of Pakistan's finest batters of his era.

He scored his first Test fifty in his second Test, in difficult batting conditions at Headingley in 2010, in a fourth-innings chase of 180 against Australia, but he would make ten more fifties before his first Test hundred, in another low-scoring match, against England in the UAE in 2012. He had his most prolific year in 2016, when he racked up over a thousand runs, including an unbeaten triple-century against West Indies in the UAE, and a 205 not out that came in an innings defeat to Australia where no other Pakistan batter went past 65.

Azhar gave an indication of his talent and temperament when, on an A tour to Australia in 2009, he twice made five-hour 70s against an attack that included Doug Bollinger, Clint McKay and Jason Krejza. That series propelled him into senior-team focus, and a solid if not spectacular 2009-10 season brought about a richly deserved Test debut in the middle order at Lord's against Australia.

Azhar took over from Misbah-ul-Haq as ODI captain after the 2015 World Cup, and ran into trouble. Pakistan slipped to a record-low No. 9 in ODIs under Azhar before rising a place, just about qualifying for the 2017 Champions Trophy. In all, they won 12 and lost 18 ODIs under him, before he quit the captaincy in February 2017 in the wake of a 4-1 loss to Australia. Ironically, Pakistan would go on to win the Champions Trophy that year, helped by fifties from Azhar in the semi-final and final.

In 2019, Azhar was appointed Test captain after Sarfaraz Ahmed was sacked, and Pakistan won two home series, against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, under him, but a slump in personal form and growing criticism of his leadership meant he spent less than 12 months at the helm before the role was handed to his vice-captain, Babar Azam.

Azhar Ali Career Stats

Batting & Fielding

FormatMatInnsNORunsHSAveBFSR100s50s4s6sCtSt
Tests97180117142302*42.261703341.93193569422660
ODIs53533184510236.90247874.453121681480
FC2684643716814302*39.37--5070--1630
List A181166226674132*46.34--1838--530
T20s494949857221.88941104.67039816240

Bowling

FormatMatInnsBallsRunsWktsBBIBBMAveEconSR4w5w10w
Tests973786762182/352/4977.624.29108.3000
ODIs531425826042/262/2665.006.0464.5000
FC268-37002346514/34-46.003.8072.5200
List A181-25382332695/235/2333.795.5136.7240
T20s4915267283153/103/1018.866.3517.8000
Azhar Ali

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Test
ODI

Recent Matches of Azhar Ali

MatchBatDateGroundFormat
Sui Northern vs HEC36 & 3821-Jan-2024KarachiFC
Sui Northern vs WAPDA5 & 2409-Jan-2024KarachiFC
Sui Northern vs Khan RL140 & 93*03-Jan-2024KarachiFC
Sui Northern vs State B of P0 & 23*28-Dec-2023KarachiFC
Sui Northern vs Pakistan TV122-Dec-2023KarachiFC

Photos of Azhar Ali

Azhar Ali goes over the top of the infield
Alan Richardson chats to Azhar Ali before play
Azhar Ali soaks in the applause for his Test retirement
Azhar Ali's final Test innings was marked by his team-mates
Azhar Ali walked off to a guard of honour from his team-mates
Azhar Ali shakes hands with Ben Stokes after his dismissal