PAK vs NZ: Babar Azam Scripts History with His 107-run Knock; Become Fastest Batter to Achieve a Huge Milestone

PAK vs NZ: After winning the first three games on the trot, Babar Azam and his team are taking on New Zealand in the fourth game of the five-match series at the Karachi National Stadium. The game is underway, and New Zealand won the toss and decided to bowl first. However, the decision to bowl first has somehow backfired on the visitors, as the Men in Green have posted a massive target of 334/6 in the first inning. The world saw yet another master class from the bat of Pakistani skipper Babar Azam.

He has smashed the 18th century of his ODI career. Babar played a perfect anchor role and scored 107 off 117 balls, which included 10 boundaries. Other batters also made some important contributions, which helped the team post a massive score. Shan Masood made 44 off 55, and Agha Salman scored 56 off 46. In the end, cameos from Iftikhar Ahmed (28 off 22), Mohammad Haris (17* off 8) and Shaheen Afridi (23* off 7) helped Pakistan to a grand finish.

PAK vs NZ: Babar Azam writes history; becomes fastest Batter to score 5000 ODI runs

Babar has been the best ODI batsman in the last couple of years. He is breaking records after records after matches he is playing. On Friday, the Pakistan skipper added another feather to his cap. With the century in the fourth ODI, he has now become the fastest batter in the world to score 5000 runs in ODI cricket. In fact, he also became the only batter to score 5000 ODI runs in less than 100 innings.

He took only 97 innings to achieve this landmark. He broke the record of former South African star Hashim Amla, who took 101 innings to do so. Sir Viv Richards and Virat Kohli are joint-third fastest on this list with 114 innings each. Earlier in the first ODI, Babar also completed 12,000 runs in his international career. He is the second-fastest in the subcontinent and the sixth-fastest to reach 20,000 international runs in history.

Pakistan has already won the ongoing five-match series with wins in the first three games. The Men in Green have a great chance to become the No. 1-ranked ODI team. For that, they need to whitewash the Black Caps in the series. The way Pakistan is playing it, it doesn’t look difficult. Earlier, the five-match T20 series between the two teams was tied 2-2.