There are eight instances of Pakistani batters scoring more than 1000 Test runs on a single ground. Javed Miandad has achieved this feat at three settings, Azhar Ali has done it on two venues, while Mohammad Yousuf, Zaheer Abbas and Younis Khan have managed it on one ground each.

The highest tally is that of Javed Miandad who scored 1393 runs in 17 Tests at the National Stadium, Karachi, averaging 58.04 runs per innings. In his very first Test appearance at the NSK in October 1976, Miandad made a double century, becoming the youngest batsman in Test history to do so, at the age of just 19 years and 140 days. He followed it up with 85 runs in the second innings, sacrificing his wicket and the opportunity of a century in each innings, as Pakistan searched for quick runs. Two years later Miandad scored a steady, unhurried 100 against India that laid the ground for Pakistan’s triumph in the match. In September 1988 while playing Australia, Miandad scored his second Test double century at this venue , when his knock of 211 on a turning wicket helped Pakistan to record an innings victory in the match.

The second highest aggregate belongs to Mohammad Yousuf who picked the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore to score 1125 Test runs in just 11 matches, at a phenomenal average of 93.75 runs per innings. Yousuf opened his Test account at this stadium with an innings of 120 not out against Zimbabwe in December 1998. Two years later he scored another ton, this time against the visiting English team.

Yousuf’s best run at the Gaddafi Stadium came in an eleven and a half months spell from December 2005 to mid November 2006, when he notched up three large successive hundreds against different opponents. A double century knock of 223 versus England was the first, followed by 173 against India and then 192 versus the West Indies for a tally of 588 runs in just three visits to the crease, inclusive of 72 fours and 5 sixes. Two of these three hundreds were compiled in Yousuf’s golden year of 2006, when he made 1788 runs and hit 9 centuries to set new world records for both the highest number of runs as well as the most hundreds ever scored in Tests in any given calendar year.

Javed Miandad reappears in the list with the third highest aggregate of 1122 runs. These were compiled at the Gaddafi Stadium, in 17 Tests, at an average of 56.10. This tally began with a brilliant Test debut innings of 163 against New Zealand in October 1976. Batting with almost imperious impunity, Miandad partnered Asif Iqbal in a 281 run stand for the fifth wicket that rescued Pakistan from a precarious position of 55 for 4. Miandad, playing with supreme confidence and deploying a wide range of shots, reached his century with three successive boundaries off the left arm Kiwi paceman Richard Collinge. Years later, Miandad also chose the Gaddafi Stadium to record a century in his 100th Test, making 145 against arch rivals India in December 1989. Incidentally, this made Miandad the only batsman in Test history to score a century in his 1st, 50th as well as100th Test, a record that still stands today.

Following an attack on the touring Sri Lankan team at Lahore in February 2009, there was no further Test cricket in Pakistan for ten years. It returned to the country in September 2019, when the security situation had improved sufficiently to enable touring sides to visit again. In this ten year interregnum Pakistan played all its home Tests in the UAE. Pakistan had already played two previous Test series in the Emirates in 2002. The first was a two Test rubber against the West Indies at Sharjah in January - February 2002, which was originally scheduled to be played in Pakistan but was relocated to the UAE in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks that had taken place in the USA a few months earlier. Sharjah also hosted two further home Tests for Pakistan versus Australia in October 2002, in the wake of the Karachi bus bombing episode in May that year.

This spate of Test matches in the UAE over a ten year period allowed Azhar Ali, who is next in the list, to make 1110 runs from 11 Tests at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, at an average of 61.67 runs per innings. His tally included 3 centuries, the first of which came in just his second Test at the venue when he made 100 against Sri Lanka in November 2011. Two Tests later he made a very patient 157 versus England in February 2012 from 442 deliveries, spanning a stay of almost nine hours at the crease.

Azhar’s top score at Dubai was a monumental innings of 302 not out against the West Indies in October 2016. Opening the batting, Azhar Ali was involved in successive partnerships of 215, 137, and 165 for the first three wickets with Sami Aslam, Asad Shafiq and Babar Azam respectively. Interestingly, Pakistan won every match at Dubai in which Azhar scored a century.

The fifth highest run aggregate in the list was compiled by Zaheer’s Abbas at the Gaddafi Stadium. In just 10 Tests at this venue Zaheer scored 1093 runs at the Bradmanesque average of 99.36 runs per innings.

Zaheer liked to score big hundreds. His first ton at the Gaddafi Stadium was an unbeaten 235 against India in October 1978 when he demolished the famed Indian spin trio of Bishen Bedi, Bhagwat Chandrasekhar and Erapally Prasanna with his refined and resplendent stroke play. Four years later in December 1982 Zaheer ran up another double century against India, scoring 215 off merely 254 deliveries, with 23 fours and 2 sixes, in a sublime display of pure, artistic brilliance.

Playing India at the Gaddafi Stadium was an occasion for an almost certain hundred from Zaheer. In October 1984 he once again took the Indian attack to task with an unbeaten 168 at this ground. A little more subdued than his previous centuries against India, this was Zaheer’s 107th first class hundred and the penultimate ton of his great batting career.

Azhar Ali scored over 1000 runs at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi as well. His final tally there was 1086 runs in 11 Tests at an average of 57.16 runs per every outing to the crease. Azhar began his association with this ground with a fine innings of 90 against South Africa in November 2010. In October 2014 while playing Australia at this stadium Azhar made a century in each innings as did the team captain Misbah ul Haq. This was the fourth instance in Test cricket when two batsmen scored centuries in each innings in the same Test, and the second occasion when both batsmen were from the same side. Azhar’s tallies in the two innings were 109 and 100 not out respectively.

Javed Miandad makes his third entry into this list with 1068 runs from 15 Tests at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad, at an average of 56.21. Miandad’s very first innings at this stadium was a fine unbeaten knock of 154 versus India in October 1978, partnering Zaheer’s Abbas in a 255 run stand for the fourth wicket. His next match at this venue in March 1980 produced another Miandad century, as he stayed undefeated with 106 as this rain affected match meandered into a high scoring draw.

Miandad compiled three more centuries at the Iqbal Stadium that included an innings of 203 not out versus Sri Lanka in October 1985, when both he and Qasim Omar compiled double hundreds in the same innings in a partnership of 397 runs for the third wicket. Miandad had accomplished this feat previously as well when both he and Mudassar Nazar scored double centuries during a record equalling partnership of 451 runs for the third wicket versus India at the Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad in 1983. Miandad is one of only four batsmen to carry out this unusual performance twice, the others being Don Bradman, Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene.

Younis Khan completes this short list of eight. In only 9 Tests at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium Younis made 1024 runs at an impressive average of 73.14 runs per innings. In his opening match at this ground against South Africa in November 2010, Younis notched up a century scoring 131 not out in the second innings as the game ended in a tame draw. In February 2012 versus England, Younis scored 127 in Pakistan’s second innings and his partnership with Azhar Ali of 216 runs for the second wicket laid the foundations for a Pakistani win.

In 2014, while playing against Australia at this venue Younis got a century in each innings. A composed 106 in the first innings was followed by a rapid fire 103 not out in the second, that included 6 fours and 2 sixes and was made from just 152 deliveries. His batting enabled Pakistan to post a big win over the Aussies, beating them by 221 runs. Exactly a year later he hit another century with England on the receiving end. His knock of 118 facilitated a comfortable victory for Pakistan by 178 runs.

Two other eminent Pakistani batsmen fell just short of the 1000 Test runs tally on a single ground. Misbah ul Haq came tantalizingly close with 994 runs at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium from just nine matches, averaging an outstanding 99.40 runs per innings. This included a run of five hundreds in six visits to the crease between October 2013 and November 2014. Four of these hundreds were compiled in consecutive innings and included a century in each innings against Australia. The second of these centuries against the Aussies took just 57 deliveries and tied Viv Richards record for the fastest Test century till then in terms of the number of balls faced.

Asad Shafiq made 959 runs at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in 12 Tests at an average of 50.47 runs per innings. This included a century apiece against South Africa and Sri Lanka. Asad’s hundreds were, however, made in vain as they were unable to save Pakistan from defeat in either of these Tests.

The last time that a Pakistani batsman got to the magic 1000 Test runs mark at a single ground was in December 2018, when Azhar Ali completed 1000 runs at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. From the existing players of the national Test squad pool the batsman who is closest to this milestone is Babar Azam with 787 runs from a mere six Tests at the National Stadium, Karachi.

– Dr Salman Faridi is a senior surgeon, poet, sports aficionado and an avid reader with a private collection of over 7000 books.

salmanfaridilnh@hotmail.com