Babar Azam ODI Centuries
Babar Azam (Punjabi and Urdu: محمد بابر اعظم; born 15 October 1994) is the right-arm Pakistani batsman who leads the Pakistan Cricket Team in all formats of cricket.[1] Babar is currently the top-ranked One Day International (ODI) and T20I batsman, while he ranks fifth in the Test format.[2][3]
Babar made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in May 2015 when cricket had returned to Pakistan shores after a drought of 6 years. Babar was named in the ODI team led by Misbah-ul-Haq.[4]
His name was not new to the local fans who had seen him play at the Gaddafi Stadium before. Proving true to expectations, Babar scored a fifty on his ODI debut, at his home ground, 54 off 60 balls, where he was once a ball picker.
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Maiden ODI century
On the back of this performance, he was also included in Pakistan’s squad that later visited Zimbabwe as a reciprocatory measure in September 2015. Although he made his debut in May 2015, his first ODI century did not come until November 2016. That was when Pakistan hosted West Indies for a full series in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In the first ODI of the three-match series, Babar came in at No.3 and scored a 131-ball 120 to help Pakistan post 284 runs on the board, and eventually win the match.[5]
Babar got his first Player of the Match award in the same match.[5] The in-form batsman eventually went on to score three consecutive centuries in this series and became the third Pakistani after Zaheer Abbas and Saeed Anwar to achieve the feat. Overall, he was the eighth batsman in the world to have scored three consecutive ODI tons. Only former Sri Lankan captain and one of the best wicketkeeper-batsman Kumar Sangakkara has more (four) back-to-back ODI tons.
Three consecutive centuries
In the three-match ODI series, Babar smashed 120, 123, and 117, to accumulate 360 runs. With this many runs, he surpassed Javed Miandad's record of scoring the most runs in a three-match ODI series.[6]
Over the seven years of his career, Babar has 20 international centuries across all formats, 14 of them came in ODIs. One of those hundreds came in a do-or-die game against New Zealand in the ICC World Cup 2019 that made him a real star back in the country. Here is a detail of Babar Azam's all ODI centuries.
A century against Australia
His fourth ODI ton came Down Under when Pakistan visited Australian shores in early 2017. The Green Shirts were badly thrashed by mighty Australians. Pakistan was defeated in the ODI series 4-1. The only highlight of the series was Babar Azam's beautiful hundred against the Aussies in the final ODI in Adelaide. With this ton, Babar became only the second Pakistani player to score an ODI ton in Australia after Zaheer Abbas in 1981.
Century against West Indies
The emerging star carried his form into the next series, this time against West Indies in the Caribbean. Babar made another hundred in the first ODI against West Indies, in Guyana. He carried the bat, scoring runs from 132 balls.[7]
A century against Sri Lanka
After the Champions Trophy 2017, Pakistan toured Sri Lanka in September, where Babar Azam scored his 7th ton against the second ODI and became the fastest batsman to get seven ODI centuries.
| Babar Azam's all ODI Centuries |
| vs Team | Score | Venue | Year |
| West Indies | 120 | Sharjah | 30 Sept 2016 |
| West Indies | 123 | Sharjah | 5 October 2016 |
| West Indies | 117 | Abu Dhabi | 7 October 2016 |
| Australia | 100 | Adelaide | 26 January 2017 |
| West Indies | 125 | Guyana | 9 April 2017 |
| Sri Lanka | 103 | Dubai | 13 October 2017 |
| Sri Lanka | 101 | Abu Dhabi | 17 October 2017 |
| Zimbabwe | 106 | Harare | 22 July 2018 |
| England | 119 | Trent Bridge | 17 May 2019 |
| New Zealand | 101 | Edgbaston | 26 June 2019 |
| Sri Lanka | 115 | Karachi | 30 Sept 2019 |
| Zimbabwe | 125 | Rawalpindi | 3 November 2020 |
| England | 157 | Edgbaston | 13 July 2021 |
References
- ↑ "Babar Azam appointed Test captain". www.icc-cricket.com. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ "Babar Azam reclaims T20I crown, first-time No.1 bowler named". www.icc-cricket.com. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ "Babar sets sights on Test summit after fulfilling lifelong ODI dream". www.icc-cricket.com. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ "Pakistan take series 2-0 after washout". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Azam's maiden ton sets up big Pakistan win". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ "Babar Azam becomes third Pakistan batsman to score three consecutive ODI centuries". The Indian Express. 2016-10-05. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
- ↑ Sportsdesk (2021-10-13). "List of All Babar Azam Centuries in International Cricket". CrickWick. Retrieved 2021-11-03.
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