Stats: Misbah ul Haq breaks into the list of top ten run-scorers as Test captains

Pakistan’s Misbah-ul-Haq has broken into the list of the top ten run scorers by Test captains. The 42-year old moved past former England skipper Michael Atherton during the ongoing 3^rd Test match against West Indies at Sharjah. Interestingly, he became the first Asian captain to join the distinguished list which is dominated by the presence of Australians.

South African leader Graeme Smith heads the table with a whopping 8659 runs from 109 matches. No other captain has led his country in more Tests than the sturdy left-hander from Johannesburg. Allan Border, who has been credited as the reason for Australia’s remarkable turnaround from the dire 80s phase, comes a distant second with over 2000 lesser runs than Smith.

Ricky Ponting rounds the top three with 6542 runs at an average of 51.51 while West Indies giant Clive Lloyd has scored 5233 runs at a similar average. The first four names all belong to some of the game’s greatest ever sides thus highlighting the importance of a captain to lead from the front in Tests. Despite leading a declining Caribbean outfit during the latter phase of his career, Brian Lara holds the best average at 57.83 which shows his stature as a batsman.

However, there is no Indian captain in the top ten with MS Dhoni being the most prolific skipper at 17^th position. While his average of 40.63 as captain is slightly higher than his career average of 38.09, Sunil Gavaskar has scored only five fewer runs than the wicket-keeper batsman at an average of 50.72 despite playing 13 lesser Tests. Among other Asian skippers, Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardene comes at 13^th position with 3665 runs at an impressive average 59.11 from 38 Tests.

Aside from being the most prolific run-scorer as an Asian captain and the 10^th overall, Misbah has led Pakistan to 24 Test victories (as of 30^th October 2016) which is second only to MS Dhoni’s 27 Test among Asian skippers. The veteran’s search for number 25 seems to be in a tricky phase after the Pakistanis ended the opening day of the Sharjah Test at 255/8.

Let us now take a detailed look at the top ten overall leading run-scorers as Test captains.

*Top 10 run-scorers as captains in Tests

Player (Country)	Matches	Runs	Average	Highest Score	Hundreds	Fifties
Graeme Smith (SA)	109	8659	47.83	277	25	36
Allan Border (Aus)	93	6623	50.94	205	15	36
Ricky Ponting (Aus)	77	6542	51.51	209	19	35
Clive Lloyd (WI)	74	5233	51.30	242*	14	27
Stephen Fleming (NZ)	80	5156	40.59	274*	8	31
Brian Lara (WI)	47	4685	57.83	400*	14	19
Alastair Cook (Eng)	54	4475	47.60	263	11	23
Greg Chappell (Aus)	48	4209	55.38	235	13	19
Michael Clarke (Aus)	47	3946	51.92	329*	14	7
Misbah ul Haq (Pak)	49	3819	55.34	135	8	32

(*Note: All statistics are accurate as of 30^th October 2016 upon the completion of the 2^nd Test between Bangladesh and England in Mirpur and after Misbah ul Haq’s dismissal for 53 in the first innings of the 3^rd Test between Pakistan and West Indies at Sharjah)