Pakistan captain Babar Azam breaks Virat Kohli's reacord with brilliant century in 1st ODI against West Indies
Babar Azam broke Virat Kohli's record with a brilliant century against West Indies.
Pakistan got off to a winning start in their ongoing three-match ODI series against West Indies at home with a comprehensive five-wicket victory in the series-opener at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan on Wednesday (June 08). Captain Babar Azam led from the front with the willow and slammed a match-winning century to help the hosts chase down the target of 306 runs comfortably.
Asked to chase down 306 runs in the first ODI in Multan, Pakistan got off to a shaky start losing opener Fakhar Zaman cheaply on 11 before Imam-ul-Haq and skipper Babar combined to steady the ship for the hosts. While Babar continued his stellar run with the willow and notched up a century, Imam played a crucial knock of 65 runs off 71 balls.
The duo added 103 runs for the second wicket before Babar added another important stand of 108 runs for the third wicket with Mohammad Rizwan (59) to set up a comfortable run-chase for Pakistan. Babar notched up103 runs off 1107 deliveries laced with 9 fours.
En route to his century, the Pakistan skipper also brokeformer India captain Virat Kohli's record of being the fastest skipper to reach 1,000 runs in ODIs. Kohli had achieved the feat in 17 innings while Babar managed to reach the milestone in just 13 innings.
Also Read:'Do you ask the same question to a male cricketer': When Mithalistumped a reporter with her response
He was 98 runs away from becoming the fastest batter to reach the 1,000-run mark in ODIs as captain heading into the first ODI against the visitors and managed to complete the milestone in style with a remarkable century.
Fastest to 1,000 ODI runs as captain:
Babar Azam - 13 innings
Virat Kohli - 17 innings
AB de Villiers - 18 innings
One of the best batters in the world at present, Babar has been in red-hot form for Pakistan across formats. He is currently ranked no.1 in T20Is and ODI rankings and is at the 4th spot in the Test rankings for batsmen. The Pakistan skipper will be hoping to continue his terrific run with the bat when Pakistan take on West Indies in the second ODI of the series on Friday (June 10).