Pakistan captain Babar Azam, who is hailed as one of the modern legends of the game, continued to shatter records as he returned to the international scene on Wednesday against the West Indies. He smashed a stunning 103 runs in the first ODI match of the ongoing 3-match series in Multan to help his side chase down the target of 306 runs in 49.2 overs against the West Indies.
Babar Azam Became 1st Player In History To Score 3 Back-To-Back Centuries
This was Azam’s third successive century in ODIs; the previous two hundreds came against Australia during Pakistan’s last ODI series at home. He had smashed 114 and 105* in the last two games of the series against Australia.
Interestingly, this is the second time when Babar Azam has managed to score three back-to-back centuries in the ODI format. It was in 2016, when Babar had registered scores of 120, 123, and 117 in three successive matches, that came against West Indies in the UAE.
Therefore, with this stellar performance against West Indies on Wednesday, Babar Azam became the first player in ODI history to reach this feat.
Babar Shattered Virat Kohli’s World Record
However, this isn’t the only record that Babar Azam achieved during his stunning knock in Multan. He also became the fastest player to score 1,000 runs as captain in the format. Yes, Babar Azam has now surpassed team India’s batting maestro Virat Kohli, who took 17 innings to score 1000 runs as an Indian captain in the ODI format.
Babar also surpassed the likes of South Africa’s AB de Villiers (20 innings) and New Zealand’s Kane Williamson (23 innings) to achieve the feat. Now, the Pakistan captain holds the no.1 spot in the ODI rankings for the batters.
Pak vs WI
Talking about the Pak vs WI match, the West Indies rose on Shai Hope’s 127 runs to go past a total of 305 runs for the loss of eight wickets in the first game. However, all thanks to the stellar knock of Babar Azam (103 runs) and , Imam-ul-Haq’s 65 runs, Mohammad Rizwan’s 59 and Player of the Match Khushdil Shah’s 23-ball unbeaten 4, Pakistan reached the target runs with 4 balls to spare.
