Babar Azam slammed a century after 807 days. Photo: AP
Babar Azam finally ended his 807-day-long drought for a century in international cricket and breached the three-figure mark in the second ODI of the series against Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi. The former Pakistan captain played a match-winning knock and remained unbeaten on 102 off 119 balls in the chase to the target of 289. Babar, who was under immense pressure to score a century, played a flawless knock.
Batting with a strike rate of 85.71, Babar hit 8 fours in his knock. He joined Fakhar Zaman in the middle following Saim Ayub’s dismissal. The duo added 100 runs for the second wicket.
Babar added a match-winning partnership of 111 runs for the third wicket with Mohammad Rizwan, who is the former ODI captain. Babar slammed the 32nd century of his career and went past Javed Miandad in an elite list following his century in the second ODI.
Babar Azam overtakes Javed Miandad
Babar Azam went past Javed Miandad and Saeed Anwar in the list of batsmen with the most centuries for Pakistan in international cricket. Both Pakistani legends breached the three-figure mark 31 times.
Miandad, who holds the joint record of playing most ODI World Cups (6), hit 23 Test and 8 ODI centuries. Anwar hit 11 Test and 20 ODI centuries.
Babar, who made his Pakistan debut in 2015, has 9 Test, 20 ODI and 3 T20I centuries. He still has a long career ahead of him and could score 50 centuries for Pakistan.
Pakistan win series 2-0
Pakistan chased down the target of 289 in the second ODI to clinch the three-match series 2-0 with one match left to be played. The home team won the opening ODI by 6 runs to go 1-0 ahead. They will now aim to whitewash the visiting team. The third and final ODI of the series will be played in Rawalpindi on Sunday (November 16).
