Asia Cup: Pak skipper Babar Azam goes past Virat Kohli, Hashim Amla to achieve THIS feat with ton vs Nepal

Pakistan started their Asia Cup 2023 campaign on Wednesday, August 30, against Nepal and their skipper Babar Azam led from the front. After losing two early wickets, Babar held the innings together first with Mohammed Rizwan and then with Iftikhar Ahmed as Pakistan went on top in their innings.

Babar scored a magnificent 151 as the hosts posted a mammoth total of 342/6 runs in 50 overs. Babar, in the process of hitting his ton, broke an ODI record as well. This was Babar's 19th ton overall in one-day games and he took just 102 innings to get there. He now tops the list of batsmen who are fastest to reach 19 ODI tons, leaving past the likes of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla.

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Before Babar, South African Amla was the fastest to reach 19 ODI centuries in 104 innings. Former India skipper Kohli, with whom Babar is often compared to, had reached the milestone in 124 innings. Completing the top five of the list are Australia David Warner in 139 innings and de Villiers in 171 innings.

As for the match, Pakistan won the toss and elected to bat first in Multan. Nepal, playing first time in the regional tournament, did well to scalp two quick wickets of openers Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq. Babar then added 86 runs for the third wicket with Rizwan (44) who got out rather funnily.

Nepal created an opening in 28th over of the innings by taking Agha Salman (5) out shortly after Rizwan's wicket but that was the last they celebrated. Ahmed (109 not out) joined his captain on the crease and the duo added 214 runs for the fifth wicket before Pak lost two wickets in last over while trying to accelerate.

For Nepal, Sompal Kami took wickets while Karan KC and Sandeep Lamichhane took one each.

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