During the final tri-series against New Zealand at the National Stadium in Karachi on Friday, Babar Azam tied for the fastest player to score 6,000 One-Day International runs.
Babar started alongside opener Fakhar Zaman, playing cautiously to get settled, since Pakistan’s skipper Mohammad Rizwan had opted to bat first.
In the seventh over, he smoothly drove a long delivery from Jacob Duffy through the covers for 6,000 ODI runs in just 123 innings, equal with former great Hashim Amla of South Africa for fastest to the feat.
Therefore, he has also himself usurped the previously-held record among Asians: the fastest player to score 6,000 runs in ODI cricket, picking up the record from star Indian batsman Virat Kohli, who had taken 136 innings to accomplish the feat.
While he first reached the milestone of 5,000 ODI runs in a blistering 97 matches in May of 2023, things had not gone terribly well after that for the Pakistan captain: since that time, he has only registered two fifties in his seven innings.
Read Also:- Najmul Hossain Shanto Makes Bold Statement
The tri-series, which has become a very important preparation ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy set to begin on February 19, has further not been favorable to Babar.
Babar could only score 10 runs in the first match against New Zealand and again missed a huge score against South Africa, scoring just 23 runs.
In the ongoing tri-series final, after Pakistan lost Fakhar Zaman as well as Saud Shakeel while the score was still in the fledgling stage, Babar showed a few flashes of classical stability.
At the end of the first powerplay, when Babar was unbeaten on 24, he anchored Pakistan at 48 for 2. In trying to accelerate, Babar fell for 29, after mis-timing off Nathan Smith, and soon Pakistan stumbled to 54 for 3 in the 12th over.
