Tests - Best Pakistani Opening Batsmen

Top 10 Pakistani Opening Batsmen in Tests

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All Test Ratings on the website are from 01/01/1950 onwards (Know Why). Most of our ratings are dynamic, and as new matches are played, the rating of earlier batsmen may change if current batsmen set new benchmarks. Brief explanation of the ratings is given before each section (Detailed Explanation). Here are the Top 10 Pakistani opening batsmen in Test Cricket since 1950.

*Note: All Test Ratings are updated till 2025-09-10

CONTENTS
1. THE CRITERIA
2. QUALIFICATION
3. PRIMARY CRITERIA
3.1. PROLIFIC
3.2. CONSISTENT
3.2.1. Against All Teams
3.2.2. Against Top Teams
3.3. BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL
3.4. ATTACKING
3.5. PRIMARY RATING
4. CONDITIONS CRITERIA
4.1. HOME/AWAY
4.1.1. At Home
4.1.2. Away From Home
4.2. FAMILIAR/UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS
4.2.1. Familiar Conditions Rating
4.2.1.1. Asians In Asia
4.2.2. Unfamiliar Conditions Rating
4.2.2.1. Asians Outside Asia
4.3. CONDITIONS RATING
5. SECONDARY CRITERIA
5.1. TOP FORM AT HOME
5.2. TOP FORM AWAY
5.3. IMPACT INNS
5.4. SECONDARY RATING
6. OVERALL RATING
7. TOP TEAMS
7.1. Top Teams In Asia
7.2. Top Teams Outside Asia
Nations Filter

This rating filters the OVERALL Rating to show players only from Pakistan.

  • The Rating of the players from Pakistan remains the same as in the original OVERALL Rating.
  • Thus the Trend Setter can be from any nation and is not necessarily from Pakistan.
Position Filter

This rating filters the OVERALL Rating to include performances of opening batsmen. Innings played only at the specified position are counted in this rating.

THE CRITERIA

CRITERIA CONSTITUENTS
Primary Runs, Average, Top Inns, Strike Rate
Conditions Home, Away, In Asia, Outside Asia
Secondary Top Form (Home & Away), Min Impact Inns
The Trend Setter (TS)

TS is the player which does the best in a criteria. The rating of all other players are calculated taking the TS as the benchmark. Know All About TS. Here is an example:-

  • TS Runs: 2,000; Player X Runs: 1,000; Section Points: 250.00
  • TS Points: 250.00(Max); Player X Points: Runs/TS Runs X 250 = 1,000/2,000 X 250 = 125.00
  • Ratings of all sections are calculated similarly with Runs being replaced by the Criteria Stat.
Top Teams (TT)

Some sections consider performances only against the top teams. Here is some information about the Top Teams:-

  • Win/Loss Ratio is used to determine top teams.
  • The top teams are calculated by decades.
  • Further, they are divided into In Asia and Outside Asia.
  • A batsman's performace is counted in TT if it comes in the specific condition and in the specific decade.

QUALIFICATION

Min Innings (TT) 25
Min Career Runs 1000

PRIMARY CRITERIA

The Primary Rating is divided into 4 main sections:-

CRITERIA STAT POINTS
Prolific Runs Scored 200.00
Consistent Average 500.00
Big Innings Potential Top Inns (Runs) 150.00
Attacking Strike Rate 150.00

PROLIFIC

The Eras

The time period from 1950 to present is divided into eras for this section. This is because less cricket was played earlier. To make it fair for earlier players they are compared with players of the same period with a slight reduction in points. Know More About Eras.

Era 1 MP before 1991
Era 2 MP between 1990 And 2016
Era 3 MP greater than 2015

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored

RANK ERA 1 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS SM Gavaskar IND 1971 1987 1979 203 9607 180.00
1 Mudassar Nazar PAK 1976 1989 1982.5 109 3787 70.95
2 Hanif Mohammad PAK 1952 1969 1960.5 65 2638 49.43
3 Sadiq Mohammad PAK 1969 1980 1974.5 72 2480 46.47
4 Mohsin Khan PAK 1979 1986 1982.5 71 2455 46.00
5 Majid Khan PAK 1973 1979 1976 49 1985 37.19
RANK ERA 2 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS AN Cook ENG 2006 2018 2012 278 11845 200.00
1 Saeed Anwar PAK 1990 2001 1995.5 86 3957 66.81
2 Mohammad Hafeez PAK 2003 2018 2010.5 101 3539 59.76
3 Taufeeq Umar PAK 2001 2014 2007.5 83 2963 50.03
4 Aamer Sohail PAK 1992 2000 1996 76 2630 44.41
RANK ERA 3 NAT FP LP MP INNS RUNS RAT
TS DA Warner AUS 2011 2024 2017.5 202 8747 170.00
1 Imam-ul-Haq PAK 2018 2023 2020.5 45 1508 29.31

CONSISTENT

R Ave

Relative Average (R Ave) is a more accurate type of average. Know How It Is Calculated. Briefly, it takes into account:-

  • Strength of Opposition.
  • Positions at which a batsman has played.
  • Venues at which he has played.
  • Time Period in which he has been active

Criteria: Points For Relative Average

Min Qualification For TS
Min Runs 1000

Against All Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS RB Simpson 70 4 3664 55.52 56.94 250.00
1 Saeed Anwar 86 2 3957 47.11 49.74 218.38
2 Hanif Mohammad 65 2 2638 41.87 46.38 203.66
3 Majid Khan 49 2 1985 42.23 42.23 185.43
4 Imam-ul-Haq 45 4 1508 36.78 40.53 177.98
5 Mohsin Khan 71 6 2455 37.77 38.34 168.35
6 Mohammad Hafeez 101 7 3539 37.65 37.56 164.90
7 Mudassar Nazar 109 6 3787 36.77 37.47 164.51
8 Aamer Sohail 76 3 2630 36.03 37.26 163.60
9 Taufeeq Umar 83 5 2963 37.99 36.64 160.88
10 Sadiq Mohammad 72 1 2480 34.93 36.31 159.41

Against Top Teams

RANK BATSMAN INNS NO RUNS AVE R AVE RAT
TS RB Simpson 65 4 3349 54.90 56.91 250.00
1 Saeed Anwar 57 1 2482 44.32 48.74 214.12
2 Hanif Mohammad 59 2 2430 42.63 47.85 210.21
3 Imam-ul-Haq 31 2 1179 40.66 46.32 203.49
4 Aamer Sohail 43 2 1687 41.15 44.86 197.06
5 Majid Khan 41 1 1523 38.08 39.43 173.20
6 Mohsin Khan 46 2 1575 35.80 37.92 166.57
7 Taufeeq Umar 57 4 1843 34.77 34.98 153.64
8 Sadiq Mohammad 52 0 1681 32.33 34.90 153.31
9 Mohammad Hafeez 64 5 1928 32.68 34.44 151.28
10 Mudassar Nazar 85 1 2498 29.74 30.99 136.15

BIG INNINGS POTENTIAL

Ave HS

In this criteria, we have taken the top 7 scores of the batsman in the specific condition. Average High Score (Ave HS) is simply the total runs in the 7 innings divided by 7.

Criteria: Points For Runs Scored In The Top 7 Inns

RANK BATSMAN 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 AVE HS RAT
TS V Sehwag 319 309 293 254 201* 201 195 253.14 150.00
1 Mohammad Hafeez 224 197 196 151 143 126 119 165.14 97.86
2 Mudassar Nazar 231 199 152* 152 126 124 120 157.71 93.45
3 Saeed Anwar 188* 176 169 149 145 136 126 155.57 92.18
4 Hanif Mohammad 337 160 142 111 104 103 103 151.43 89.73
5 Mohsin Khan 200 152 149 135 129 104 101* 138.57 82.11
6 Taufeeq Umar 236 135 135 130 111 111 104 137.43 81.43
7 Aamer Sohail 205 160 160 133 99 88 80 132.14 78.30
8 Sadiq Mohammad 166 137 119 105 103* 97 91 116.86 69.24
9 Majid Khan 167 119* 112 108 100 98 98 114.57 67.89
10 Imam-ul-Haq 157 121 111* 96 83 76 74* 102.57 60.78

ATTACKING

R SR

Relative Strike Rate (R SR) is calculated using the same method as R Ave with average being replaced with SR. Batsman who were active in earlier times benefit from this as SR was generally low earlier.

R4BF

Balls played by batsmen for many inns is not available for earlier times. When such is the case, we have used Runs For Balls Faced (R4BF) to determine the Strike Rate. This is the runs scored by the batsman for the available data of balls.

Criteria: Points For R SR

Min Qualification For TS
Min Runs 1000
Min Average 25
RANK BATSMAN R4BF BF SR R SR RAT
TS V Sehwag 8207 9875 83.11 79.95 150.00
1 Majid Khan 658 1221 53.89 63.45 119.04
2 Aamer Sohail 2630 4672 56.29 61.66 115.68
3 Saeed Anwar 3957 7024 56.34 61.02 114.49
4 Mohsin Khan 2131 4182 50.96 56.17 105.38
5 Mohammad Hafeez 3539 6303 56.15 54.80 102.82
6 Sadiq Mohammad 1072 2567 41.76 50.00 93.81
7 Hanif Mohammad 3 17 NA NA 93.81
8 Mudassar Nazar 3373 8320 40.54 45.75 85.84
9 Imam-ul-Haq 1508 3300 45.70 44.18 82.90
10 Taufeeq Umar 2963 6626 44.72 43.37 81.37

PRIMARY RATING

The total of the above four criteria comes out to be 1,000.00 points. The Primary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 40 percent.

RANK BATSMAN PRO CON BIP ATT RAT PRI PTS
1 Saeed Anwar 66.81 432.50 92.18 114.49 705.99 282.40
2 Hanif Mohammad 49.43 413.88 89.73 93.81 646.84 258.74
3 Aamer Sohail 44.41 360.66 78.30 115.68 599.05 239.62
4 Majid Khan 37.19 358.64 67.89 119.04 582.76 233.10
5 Mohammad Hafeez 59.76 316.18 97.86 102.82 576.62 230.65
6 Mohsin Khan 46.00 334.91 82.11 105.38 568.40 227.36
7 Imam-ul-Haq 29.31 381.46 60.78 82.90 554.45 221.78
8 Mudassar Nazar 70.95 300.66 93.45 85.84 550.91 220.36
9 Taufeeq Umar 50.03 314.52 81.43 81.37 527.35 210.94
10 Sadiq Mohammad 46.47 312.71 69.24 93.81 522.24 208.90

CONDITIONS CRITERIA

The Conditions

The Conditions Ratings are calculated by applying the four criteria of the Primary Rating to diffirent conditions. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points. Click on the Rating Titles to see how they were calculated.

The four conditions criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA POINTS
Home 30.00
Away 120.00
Familiar Conditions 30.00
Unfamiliar Conditions 120.00

HOME/AWAY

HM/AW RATING

Points to note:-

  • U.A.E. is considered as a second Home for Pakistan and Afghanistan.
  • All Home and Away stats of Pakistani and Afghani batsmen are calculated accordingly.

At Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 Imam-ul-Haq 20 951 50.05 46.05 634.36 19.03
2 Saeed Anwar 38 1769 47.81 55.77 605.10 18.15
3 Hanif Mohammad 27 1158 44.54 NK 604.36 18.13
4 Mudassar Nazar 48 2242 52.14 41.14 599.90 18.00
5 Mohammad Hafeez 52 2047 43.55 55.03 569.15 17.07
6 Aamer Sohail 31 1116 37.20 54.20 565.63 16.97
7 Mohsin Khan 38 1405 41.32 52.45 509.99 15.30
8 Majid Khan 16 686 42.88 NK 442.28 13.27
9 Taufeeq Umar 43 1392 33.95 41.24 440.87 13.23
10 Sadiq Mohammad 27 841 32.35 29.25 387.29 11.62

Away From Home

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 Saeed Anwar 48 2188 46.55 56.80 696.75 83.61
2 Majid Khan 33 1299 41.90 53.60 584.06 70.09
3 Hanif Mohammad 38 1480 40.00 NK 582.23 69.87
4 Aamer Sohail 45 1514 35.21 57.94 539.99 64.80
5 Sadiq Mohammad 45 1639 36.42 44.53 534.08 64.09
6 Taufeeq Umar 40 1571 42.46 48.32 530.24 63.63
7 Mohsin Khan 33 1050 33.87 49.16 517.92 62.15
8 Mohammad Hafeez 49 1492 31.74 57.76 487.84 58.54
9 Mudassar Nazar 61 1545 25.75 39.81 431.93 51.83
10 Imam-ul-Haq 25 557 25.32 45.10 358.42 43.01

FAMILIAR/UNFAMILIAR CONDITIONS

FC/UC RATING

Points to note:-

  • Unfamiliar Conditions (UC) is Outside Asia for Asians and In Asia for Non Asians.
  • Familiar Conditions (FC) are the opposite.

Familiar Conditions Rating

Asians In Asia

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 10

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 Saeed Anwar 51 2561 52.27 55.94 673.96 20.22
2 Mohammad Hafeez 68 2896 46.71 57.18 625.74 18.77
3 Imam-ul-Haq 27 1126 45.04 46.96 610.60 18.32
4 Hanif Mohammad 44 1855 44.17 NK 592.50 17.78
5 Aamer Sohail 34 1296 39.27 56.25 572.91 17.19
6 Mudassar Nazar 62 2591 45.46 40.43 564.14 16.92
7 Mohsin Khan 46 1523 37.15 52.43 481.44 14.44
8 Taufeeq Umar 60 2034 35.68 43.80 466.37 13.99
9 Majid Khan 22 758 34.45 46.30 390.73 11.72
10 Sadiq Mohammad 32 947 30.55 35.28 389.15 11.67

Unfamiliar Conditions Rating

Asians Outside Asia

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 5

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 Saeed Anwar 35 1396 39.89 57.07 715.59 85.87
2 Majid Khan 27 1227 49.08 55.91 710.93 85.31
3 Sadiq Mohammad 40 1533 38.33 44.13 631.01 75.72
4 Aamer Sohail 42 1334 33.35 56.33 627.77 75.33
5 Taufeeq Umar 23 929 44.24 46.87 609.28 73.11
6 Mohsin Khan 25 932 38.83 49.18 602.21 72.27
7 Hanif Mohammad 21 783 37.29 NK 589.06 70.69
8 Mudassar Nazar 47 1196 26.00 40.75 470.51 56.46
9 Mohammad Hafeez 33 643 20.09 51.94 393.24 47.19
10 Imam-ul-Haq 18 382 23.88 42.35 388.47 46.62

CONDITIONS RATING

The Conditions Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the four criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 30%.

RANK BATSMAN AWAY HOME UC FC CON PTS
1 Saeed Anwar 83.61 18.15 85.87 20.22 207.85
2 Majid Khan 70.09 13.27 85.31 11.72 180.39
3 Hanif Mohammad 69.87 18.13 70.69 17.78 176.46
4 Aamer Sohail 64.80 16.97 75.33 17.19 174.29
5 Mohsin Khan 62.15 15.30 72.27 14.44 164.16
6 Taufeeq Umar 63.63 13.23 73.11 13.99 163.96
7 Sadiq Mohammad 64.09 11.62 75.72 11.67 163.10
8 Mudassar Nazar 51.83 18.00 56.46 16.92 143.21
9 Mohammad Hafeez 58.54 17.07 47.19 18.77 141.58
10 Imam-ul-Haq 43.01 19.03 46.62 18.32 126.98

SECONDARY CRITERIA

The Secondary Rating consists of three parts. If Innings are less than the Qualification than the Player gets 50% of the Points. Click on the Rating Titles to see how they were calculated.

The three secondary criteria and thier weightage is as follows:-

CRITERIA POINTS
Top Form Home 30.00
Top Form Away 120.00
Impact Innings 150.00
TF RATING

Points to note about Top Form Rating:-

  • Top Form (TF) is calculated by taking the best 20 consecutive innings of a batsman.
  • There are two TF Ratings used in our OVERALL Rating: Home and Away.

TOP FORM AT HOME

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 5

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 Mudassar Nazar 20 1239 77.44 49.85 772.89 23.19
2 Mohammad Hafeez 20 1162 64.56 59.38 673.04 20.19
3 Saeed Anwar 20 1015 53.42 59.81 610.62 18.32
4 Mohsin Khan 20 958 56.35 56.15 594.75 17.84
5 Imam-ul-Haq 20 951 50.05 46.05 556.34 16.69
6 Hanif Mohammad 20 913 48.05 NK 554.04 16.62
7 Aamer Sohail 20 873 45.95 57.02 551.80 16.55
8 Taufeeq Umar 20 940 49.47 41.16 525.11 15.75
9 Majid Khan 16 686 42.88 NK 436.37 13.09
10 Sadiq Mohammad 20 698 36.74 NK 432.88 12.99

TOP FORM AWAY

Min Innings Vs All Teams: 5

RANK BATSMAN INNS RUNS AVE SR RAT WTG
1 Saeed Anwar 20 1089 57.32 59.84 734.20 88.10
2 Majid Khan 20 1029 57.17 57.12 700.16 84.02
3 Hanif Mohammad 20 1023 51.15 NK 681.98 81.84
4 Sadiq Mohammad 20 1008 50.40 44.43 638.46 76.62
5 Mohsin Khan 20 835 46.39 51.72 602.89 72.35
6 Mohammad Hafeez 20 845 42.25 60.31 597.32 71.68
7 Taufeeq Umar 20 871 48.39 48.12 553.10 66.37
8 Aamer Sohail 20 706 37.16 59.93 527.61 63.31
9 Mudassar Nazar 20 724 36.20 41.44 483.70 58.04
10 Imam-ul-Haq 20 456 26.82 50.22 368.12 44.17

IMPACT INNS

II Rating

Impact Innings (II) are those innings which have a minimum impact in terms of runs or Strike Rate. Know All About II. Points to note about II:-

  • 1st & 2nd and 3rd & 4th innings are clubbed together.
  • A Batsman should score at least 30 runs to qualify.
  • An Inn is included in II if it is 16.67% of the total runs of the higher total or
  • The runs are more than 10.00% of the total runs and
  • The SR is high or in a successful chase while being Not Out.

Min Innings Vs Top Teams: 25

RANK BATSMAN DIS II II/Dis% RAT WTG
1 Saeed Anwar 84 31 36.90 736.42 110.46
2 Aamer Sohail 73 21 28.77 573.49 86.02
3 Hanif Mohammad 63 17 26.98 540.40 81.06
4 Taufeeq Umar 78 21 26.92 535.23 80.28
5 Mohsin Khan 65 19 29.23 533.73 80.06
6 Imam-ul-Haq 41 11 26.83 528.35 79.25
7 Sadiq Mohammad 71 18 25.35 511.44 76.72
8 Mohammad Hafeez 94 22 23.40 449.44 67.42
9 Majid Khan 47 10 21.28 375.23 56.28
10 Mudassar Nazar 103 20 19.42 371.90 55.79

SECONDARY RATING

Secondary Rating is the addition of the points a batsman scored in the three criteria. The Weightage of the Rating is 30%.

RANK BATSMAN TF HM TF AW II SEC RAT
1 Saeed Anwar 18.32 88.10 110.46 216.89
2 Hanif Mohammad 16.62 81.84 81.06 179.52
3 Mohsin Khan 17.84 72.35 80.06 170.25
4 Sadiq Mohammad 12.99 76.62 76.72 166.32
5 Aamer Sohail 16.55 63.31 86.02 165.89
6 Taufeeq Umar 15.75 66.37 80.28 162.41
7 Mohammad Hafeez 20.19 71.68 67.42 159.29
8 Majid Khan 13.09 84.02 56.28 153.39
9 Imam-ul-Haq 16.69 44.17 79.25 140.12
10 Mudassar Nazar 23.19 58.04 55.79 137.02

OVERALL RATING

The OVERALL Rating is the addition of the points of all the above criteria. The rating is out of 1,000 Pts.

RANK OV RANK BATSMAN NAT PRI RAT CON RAT SEC RAT FIN RAT
1 14 Saeed Anwar PAK 282.40 207.85 216.89 707.14
2 38 Hanif Mohammad PAK 258.74 176.46 179.52 614.72
3 48 Aamer Sohail PAK 239.62 174.29 165.89 579.80
4 56 Majid Khan PAK 233.10 180.39 153.39 566.89
5 57 Mohsin Khan PAK 227.36 164.16 170.25 561.77
6 68 Sadiq Mohammad PAK 208.90 163.10 166.32 538.32
7 70 Taufeeq Umar PAK 210.94 163.96 162.41 537.31
8 71 Mohammad Hafeez PAK 230.65 141.58 159.29 531.51
9 80 Mudassar Nazar PAK 220.36 143.21 137.02 500.59
10 83 Imam-ul-Haq PAK 221.78 126.98 140.12 488.87

TOP TEAMS

Top Teams In Asia

DECADE OF MAT 1 2 3 4 5 6
1950s AUS WI PAK IND ENG
1960s WI AUS PAK IND ENG SA
1970s PAK ENG IND WI SA AUS
1980s PAK WI ENG NZ AUS
1990s IND PAK SA AUS WI
2000s AUS IND SL PAK SA ENG
2010s IND PAK SL ENG SA AUS
2020s IND AUS PAK NZ ENG SA

Top Teams Outside Asia

DECADE OF MAT 1 2 3 4 5
1950s AUS ENG WI SA PAK
1960s ENG AUS WI SA NZ
1970s SA ENG WI AUS IND
1980s WI NZ AUS ENG PAK
1990s AUS SA WI PAK ENG
2000s AUS ENG SA IND NZ
2010s SA AUS ENG NZ IND
2020s AUS NZ ENG SA IND

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