CAPE TOWN: Pakistan’s ace batter Babar Azam went past legendary Indian wicketkeeper batter MS Dhoni with his drought-ending half-century in the second ODI against South Africa here at the Newlands on Thursday.
Babar, who had not scored an ODI half-century since November 2023, quashed the drought by scoring a match-winning 73 off 95 balls in Pakistan’s 81-run victory over South Africa, which gave the visitors an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
With his 33rd half-century in the format, Babar broke MS Dhoni’s record of scoring the most fifties against SENA countries – South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia.
Prior to the aforementioned fixture, both batters were tied on 38 half-centuries but Babar pulled ahead with a match-winning effort on Thursday.
Besides this, the 29-year-old has also moved closer to breaking South African legend Hashim Amla’s record for the fastest to 6000 ODI runs.
Amla achieved the milestone in 123 innings, while Babar, with 5,905 runs in 119 innings, has three innings left to surpass this feat.
Notably, the top-order batter also holds the record for being the fastest to 5000 ODI runs, achieving it in just 97 innings.
Fastest to 6000 ODI Runs:
- Hashim Amla (South Africa): 123 innings
- Virat Kohli (India): 136 innings
- Kane Williamson (New Zealand): 139 innings
- David Warner (Australia): 139 innings
- Shikhar Dhawan (India): 140 innings
Adding to this, the right-handed batter is on the verge of equaling Saeed Anwar’s record for the most centuries by a Pakistani batter in ODI cricket.
With 19 ODI centuries to his name, Babar needs just one more to match Anwar’s tally of 20.
Most ODI Centuries for Pakistan:
- Saeed Anwar: 20 centuries
- Babar Azam: 19 centuries
- Mohammad Yousuf: 15 centuries
- Fakhar Zaman: 11 centuries
- Mohammad Hafeez: 11 centuries
- Babar Azam
