Century making machine Babar Azam sends record books tumbling on the way

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  • Azam is the quickest to score seven ODI tons as well.

    It was a night of records for Pakistan’s Babar Azam as his side beat Sri Lanka by 32 runs in the second of the five-match ODI series at Abu Dhabi on Monday.

    The 23-year-old scored his second consecutive century in the series after hitting a 133-ball 101 to rescue Pakistan from a precarious position of 101-6 to finish at a challenging 219-9.

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  • Azam had scored 102 in the first ODI during his side’s 83-run win and with Tuesday’s century he has now scored five consecutive tons in the UAE in the 50-over format.

    Still only 33-innings old in the one-day game, Azam has come a long way already to establish himself as the best bet to carry Pakistan’s batting in the next decade or so.

    The Abu Dhabi ton was the right-hand batsman’s seventh in ODI cricket, making him the fastest to achieve that feat having played only 33 games.

    South Africa’s Hashim Amla who himself scored an unbeaten ton in the recently concluded first ODI against Bangalesh, took 41 innings to score seven centuries while Pakistan great Zaheer Abbas had taken 42.

    Azam has now scored five centuries on the trot in the UAE.

    Azam has now scored five centuries on the trot in the UAE.

    His five consecutive UAE tons make him the first batsman in the world to have done so in a particular country. The previous best was AB de Villiers who has scored four on the trot in India in 2010-11.

    Azam’s meteoric rise in Pakistan cricket has been nothing short of extraordinary. Having failed to score a century in his first 15 innings in the 50-over game, the batsman has now scored seven in his last 18 with a resounding average of 75 plus.

    Occupying the crucial number three slot in the batting lineup, Azam now averages a stupendous 57.20 in ODI cricket, the second highest among active players with a minimum of 1000 runs.

    In comparison, India’s Virat Kohli, considered by many as the greatest limited-overs batsman in the current generation, averages 55.13 though he has played 199 matches as compared to Azam’s 33.

    Kohli, who has 30 tons to his name, had scored seven at the age of 23 though he took double the amount of Azam’s innings to get there.

    Among the current crop, only de Kock had more tons at the age of 23.

    Among the current crop, only de Kock had more tons at the age of 23.

    The legendary Sachin Tendulkar had eight centuries to his credit at the same age and only South Africa’s Quinton de Kock can join the former India batting maestro in having more centuries than Azam at the particular stage of their careers.

    The South African left-hander had eight tons himself at the age of 23 though he did take 52 innings to achieve the feat.

    The Pakistan batsman’s rapid rise is still at an early stage with years of cricket left ahead. If he continues in the same vein, he could very well end up as one of the greatest limited-overs batsman of all time.

    He has become a century making machine, converting his 50s into 100s more often than not. In him, Pakistan have a gem of a player on their hands who could wind up shattering countless records as he continues his cricketing journey.

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