Multan: Babar Azam broke Hashim Amla’s record for most centuries in less innings.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam scored his 19th and 31st international centuries of his ODI career in the opening match of Asia Cup 2023 in Multan.
Babar Azam’s brilliant innings of 151 runs off 131 balls was not only his second highest score in ODI cricket but also the second highest score by an individual batsman in the history of Asia Cup.
India’s Virat Kohli is the highest individual scorer in the Asia Cup with 183 runs which he scored against Pakistan in 2012.
Babar Azam made the second-highest score in Asia Cup history on Wednesday 👏#PAKvNEP pic.twitter.com/OQ6VoFoVfd
— ICC (@ICC) August 30, 2023
Iftikhar Ahmed also scored the first century of his ODI career during the match. This was his highest score in ODI cricket with 109 not out off 71 balls.
Babar Azam scored his 19th century in the 102nd innings of his ODI career while Hashim Amla, the legendary South African batsman, scored his 19th century in his 104th innings.
It should be noted that Babar Azam is the second player to score 19 centuries in ODIs.
Legendary cricketer Saeed Anwar is the first with 20 ODI centuries, but he scored these centuries in 244 innings and Babar Azam has played only 102 innings.
In the match against Nepal, Babar Azam and Iftikhar Ahmed made a partnership of 214 runs off 131 balls, which is the highest fifth wicket stand for Pakistan in ODI cricket.
The previous best partnership for the fifth wicket was 176 runs between Umar Akmal and Younis Khan against Sri Lanka in 2009.
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