Pakistani batsman Babar Azam finally ended his 807-day century drought by scoring a match-winning century against Sri Lanka in the second ODI played at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Friday, 14 November. Babar scored unbeaten 102 runs in 119 balls, which included eight fours. Thanks to his brilliant innings, Pakistan achieved the target of 289 runs in 48.2 overs by losing only two wickets.
First century in 84 innings
This was Babar’s first international century in 84 innings. Before this, his last century came against Nepal on 30 August 2023 in the Asia Cup. During this period, he crossed the fifty-run mark 20 times, but could not reach three figures.
Babar scored his 20th century
With this century, Babar completed his 20th ODI century and became the batsman with the joint highest number of ODI centuries for Pakistan along with Saeed Anwar. He achieved this milestone in just 136 innings, making him the third fastest player to score 20 ODI centuries after Hashim Amla (108) and Virat Kohli (133).
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Apart from this, Babar scored his eighth century on his home ground, which is the highest by any Pakistani batsman. In this matter he left Mohammad Yusuf (7) behind.
Babar came to the crease when Saim Ayyub and Fakhar Zaman had made a brisk partnership of 77 runs in 58 balls. Babar showed patience in the beginning and hit his first four after 23 balls. He completed his half-century in 68 balls and made an important partnership of 100 runs in 127 balls with Fakhar Zaman (78).
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In the end he made an unbeaten partnership of 112 runs with Mohammad Rizwan (51*) and completed his century in 115 balls. This big partnership gave Pakistan an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. The third and final ODI will be played on this ground on 16 November.
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