Pakistan’s Babar Azam Becomes Second Fastest to Reach five ODI Centuries

Pakistan’s Babar Azam, on Sunday became the second fastest batsman to reach five ODI centuries when he scored 125 runs against West Indies. His knock turned out to be the one that won the match for Pakistan as they went on to beat West Indies by 74 runs at Providence.

Azam smashed three sixes and stroked seven boundaries on his way to the total that he got to in 132 deliveries. The knock has now taken his career total to 1306 in his first 25 ODI innings.

He is followed by South Africa’s wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock who achieved the feat in just 19 knocks

“I just wanted to bat through to the end of the innings and I was able to achieve that to help us put up a good total,” cricket.com.au quots him as saying, “It doesn’t matter where I bat, I just want to make a contribution for the team.”

Babar Azam’s career total of 1306 is also the all time highest by a batsman after the first 25 innings.

He surpassed England’s Jonathan Trott who scored 1280 runs after his initial 25 ODI innings. West Indian great Sir Vivian Richards had scored 1211 runs after first 25 innings of his career. England’s Kevin Pietersen scored 1189 and de Kock has scored 1181 in their initial 25 ODI innings.

Babar, with his 4th century against West Indies, becomes jointly the second in the list of players scoring most ODI centuries against the former World Champions.

The two teams will now lock horns in the decider on Tuesday at the same venue with the West Indies seeking their first ODI series win over Pakistan for 26 years.

Courtesy : indianexpress