KARACHI: Pakistan’s all-format captain Babar Azam’s journey is nothing short of an inspiration as the star batter on Friday became the only captain to lead the national team to the top of the ICC Men’s ODI Rankings.
Babar Azam, who made his debut for Pakistan in ODIs against Zimbabwe, made hard yards on his way to becoming one of the most prominent figures for Pakistan in the sport.
He served as a ball boy when South Africa toured Pakistan in 2007 for a five-match ODI series and also as a net bowler and bowled against legendary players like Inzamam-ul-Haq.
After making his ODI debut, Babar soon emerged as the top batter for Pakistan and has been ruling the white-ball formats since then, especially ODIs.
Babar Azam’s astoundingly consistent run in the ODIs lifted him to dethrone his Indian counterpart Virat Kohli as the top-ranked ODI batter in April 2021 and was also named the ODI player of the year for two consecutive years.
Meanwhile, on Friday (May 5), Babar smashed two more ODI records – fastest to 5000 runs and to 18 centuries – amid Pakistan’s dominating 102-run victory over New Zealand which propelled them to the top of ODI rankings for the first time.
Following the remarkable achievement of the national team, a nine-year-old tweet from Babar Azam has been circulating on social media in which the current Pakistan captain expressed his gratitude for being selected for Pakistan’s conditional camp.
Thank God i'm selected for pakistan camp. Pakistan conditional summer camp start from 8 may.
— Babar Azam (@babarazam258) May 5, 2014
Coincidentally, the tweet was published on May 5 2014, exactly nine years before Pakistan, under the leadership of Babar Azam, rose to the top of the ODI rankings.
Congratulations, Pakistan 🎉
They go to the top of the @MRFWorldwide ICC Men's ODI Team Rankings 🙌 pic.twitter.com/GUq2CjOEoK
— ICC (@ICC) May 5, 2023
It is worth mentioning here that Babar will add another feather to his cap on Sunday as he is all set to play his 100th ODI match as Pakistan will take on New Zealand in the fifth PAK vs NZ ODI here at National Bank Cricket Arena.