Ton-up Babar Azam levels Saeed Anwar’s record

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan ace batter equaled former opener Saeed Anwar’s record with a drought-breaking century against Sri Lanka in the second ODI here at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Friday.

The right-hander notched up his long-awaited 32nd international century and 20th ODI ton, hence equalling Anwar’s record for the most ODI hundreds by a Pakistani batter.

The former World number one ODI batter brought up the much-anticipated century off 115 balls when he pulled Pramod Madushan for a single.

Babar scored 20 half-centuries across formats during the drought, but was unable to breach the 100-run barrier.

Most ODI Centuries for Pakistan

Babar Azam: 20 centuries in 136 ODI innings

Saeed Anwar: 20 centuries in 244 ODI innings

Mohammad Yousuf: 15 centuries in 267 ODI innings

Fakhar Zaman: 11 centuries in 90 ODI innings

For the unversed, Babar Azam’s last international century came against Nepal during the ACC Asia Cup, which was played in ODI format, back in August 2023.

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He scored an impressive 151 runs off just 131 balls, featuring 18 boundaries, including four soaring sixes.

Since that knock, however, Babar has experienced a notable dip in form. Over the past 15 months, he has struggled to reach the three-figure mark across all three formats of the game.

In the first ODI of the ongoing home series against Sri Lanka earlier this week, Babar showed glimpses of brilliance until Wanindu Hasaranga cleaned him up with a googly.

However, his 84th international innings since his last international century turned out to be a lucky charm for him as he finally reached the milestone after a wait of 807 days.

READ: Babar Azam ends century drought in second Sri Lanka ODI