Babar Azam joins legendry Pakistan captains who won debut Test series

RAWALPINDI: Skipper Babar Azam joined an elite club of Pakistani captains who won their debut Test series after he led Green Shirts to a historic win against South Africa on Monday.

According to details, Fazal Mahmood won the West Indies series in 1959, Mushtaq Mohammad led his side to the Test series victory against New Zealand in 1976 while Javed Miandad won the series against Australia in 1980.

Similarly, former captain Saleem Malik captained Pakistani team to a series victory against New Zealand in 1994.

The 2021 South Africa series was historic on several accounts, the first for Babar Azam as the captain, the first visit of South Africa to the country in 14 years and it is the biggest series hosted by Pakistan since a deadly 2009 militant attack on Sri Lanka’s squad in Lahore halted international tours.

This is Pakistan’s only second Test series win over South Africa in 12 attempts, having lost eight and drawn three.

Pakistan last beat South Africa 1-0 in a two-match series at home in 2003.

The series win also lifts Pakistan to fifth in international Test rankings -- the first time they have placed in the top five since January 2017.

South Africa are pushed to sixth from fifth.