Babar Azam Breaks Two-Year-Long Jinx, Ends Wait Of 807 Days To...

Ace Pakistan batter Babar Azam on Friday ended a wait of 807 days to bring up his 32nd international hundred and 20th ODI century, marking a return to form after more than two years of a very poor run. It was his first international hundred after 83 innings.

Babar’s last international hundred was also in ODIs, when he scored 151 against Nepal in Multan in August 2023.

Since then, Babar’s form dropped across formats and his performance reflected on the team in the 2023 ODI World Cup, the 2024 T20 World Cup, as well as the Champions Trophy earlier this year.

On Friday, Sri Lanka had posted a respectable 288/8 in their 50 overs, with Janith Liyanage scoring a half-century. Star pacer Haris Rauf and Abrar Ahmed picked three wickets apiece.

In the chase,

Fakhar Zaman and Saim Ayub added 77 runs for the opening partnership before the latter was dismissed by Dushmantha Chameera.

Zaman and Babar then built a match-winning 100-run partnership for the second wicket, before the former was dismissed for a well-made 78 by Chameera.

From there on, there was no stopping Pakistan as Babar and Mohammad Rizwan, two batters who have copped immense scrutiny over the past two years, added 112 runs for the third wicket to take Pakistan over the line.

After Babar brought up his hundred with a single off Pramod Madushan in the 48th over, Pakistan fans in Rawalpindi erupted in celebration. His teammates rose to their feet in a standing ovation, while Rizwan embraced him at the other end.

Babar now has 20 ODI hundreds, which is the highest for Pakistan, level with Saeed Anwar. But to his credit, the former has scored those centuries in 136 innings, while the former Pakistan batter needed 244 innings to achieve the feat.

Most centuries for Pakistan in ODIs

20 – Babar Azam*

20 – Saeed Anwar

15 – Mohammad Yousuf

11 – Mohammad Hafeez

11 – Fakhar Zaman