The Pakistan captain shared a 103-run partnership with Imam-ul-Haq (65) and a 108-run stand with Mohammad Rizwan (59). Thanks to these partnerships, Pakistan was able to chase 300 runs. Now the hosts took a 1-0 lead in all three, chasing a target of 306 in Multan.
The 27-year-old Pakistan captain scored two centuries against Australia before Wednesday’s match and also scored three consecutive centuries against West Indies in 2016. Babar hit nine fours in his 17th ODI century and the world’s top ODI batsman also surpassed former India captain Virat Kohli to become the fastest player to reach 1000 runs as captain.
Babar Azam achieved this feat in 13 innings as compared to Kohli’s 17 innings. With this, he became the highest run-scorer in 85 innings, which Rexard was previously named after the legendary South African batsman Hashim Amla.
Australia Leads 2-0 Series Win Over Sri Lanka After Surviving Hasaranga’ Wrath
If we look at this match, then in the first innings, Shai Hope and Shamrah Brooks provided a solid platform to the visitors by sharing 154 runs for the second wicket. Playing the spin threat carefully from Shadab Khan, took a risk against Haris Rauf (4-77).
Brooks scored 70 off 83 balls before Shadab took a brilliant one-handed sliding catch at short third man and ended a dangerous stand in the 31st over. After being ruled out of the last series against Australia in March-April due to injury, Shadab made a comeback and scored 1-37 runs in ODIs.
Hope, who hit 15 fours and a six, scored 4000 ODI runs in 118 balls with a boundary, completing his 12th century. Shai Hope is also in excellent form in his career, having earlier scored a century against the Netherlands. Despite cameos from Rovman Powell (32) and Shepherd (25), Rauf’s late wickets put West Indies behind in the latter part of the innings. The second match of this series will be played on Friday while the last match will be played on Sunday.