PAK vs NZ: Babar Azam scored a century against the Kiwis, leaving behind Amla-Kohli to become the number-one batsman

Posted on 8th May 2023 by rohit kumar

A five-match ODI series is being played between Pakistan and New Zealand. In the fourth ODI of the series played on Friday, under the leadership of Babar Azam, Pakistan defeated New Zealand by 102 runs. Captain Babar was the hero of Pakistan\'s victory. He scored the 18th century of his ODI career. Babar played an inning of 107 runs in 117 balls with the help of 10 fours. Thanks to this, Pakistan scored 334 runs in 50 overs losing six wickets. In response, the New Zealand team was reduced to 232 runs in 43.4 overs. Pakistan has taken a 4-0 lead in the series. The last match of the series will be played in Karachi from May 7.

 

Babar\'s name is the fastest to 5000 runs in ODIs

Along with the century, Babar also made many records in his name. He has become the fastest batsman to complete 5000 runs in terms of innings in ODIs. Babar achieved this position in 97 innings. In this case, former South African opener Hashim Amla is at number two. At number three are former West Indies batsman Vivian Richards and India\'s Virat Kohli. Both did this in 114-114 innings. However, Kohli is the fastest in terms of timing since his debut. Kohli took five years and 95 days to complete 5000 runs in ODIs. Whereas, Babur took seven years and 339 days.

 

Babar has so far scored 5088 runs in 99 ODIs. Not only this, Babar is just two centuries behind veteran batsman Saeed Anwar in scoring the most centuries in ODIs for Pakistan. Anwar had scored 20 centuries. Babar will match him as soon as he scores two centuries. Mohammad Yusuf with 15 centuries at number three and Mohammad Hafeez with 11 centuries at number four.

 

Pakistan\'s team became number one in ODIs

With the victory over New Zealand in the fourth ODI, Pakistan became the number-one team in ODIs for the first time. Talking about the match, batting first after losing the toss, scored 334 runs losing six wickets in 50 overs. Fakhar Zaman got out after scoring 14 runs, Shan Masood 44 runs, Mohammad Rizwan 24 runs, and Iftikhar Ahmed 28 runs. Babar scored 107 runs and Agha Salman scored 58 runs. Mohammad Haris remained unbeaten on 17 runs and Shaheen Afridi scored 23 runs. Matt Henry took the maximum of three wickets from New Zealand. At the same time, Ben Lister and Ish Sodhi got one wicket each.

 

Chasing a mammoth target of 335 runs, the Pakistan team got off to a bad start. Will Young had 15 runs, Tom  23 runs, and Daryl Mitchell got out after scoring 34 runs. After this, captain Tom Latham and Mark Chapman shared a 55-run partnership for the fourth wicket. Latham got out after scoring 60 runs. He hit five fours in his innings. At the same time, Chapman got out after scoring 46 runs in 33 balls with the help of four fours and three sixes. James Neesham was dismissed for 11 runs, Cole McConchie eight runs, Isha Sodhi nine runs, Matt Henry five runs, and Blair Tickner six runs. For Pakistan, Usama Mir took four wickets and Mohammad Wasim Junior took three wickets. Haris Rauf took two wickets. At the same time, Shaheen Afridi got a wicket.

 

Pakistan leads 4-0 in ODI series

Pakistan won the first ODI by five wickets, the second ODI by seven wickets, and the third ODI by 26 runs. Earlier, the five-match T20 series between Pakistan and New Zealand was tied 2-2. In the first T20, Pakistan defeated the Kiwis by 88 runs and in the second T20 by 38 runs. The third T20 was won by New Zealand by four runs. The fourth T20 was washed out due to rain. The fifth and last T20 was won by New Zealand by six wickets.

 

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