On Friday, Babar Azam played a magnificent innings, scoring a century that helped Pakistan achieve the top spot in the one-day international rankings for the first time ever.
Pakistan secured a resounding victory over New Zealand by 102 runs in the fourth match held in Karachi. Babar’s impressive knock of 107 runs off 117 balls, played a significant role in Pakistan’s total score of 334 for the loss of 6 wickets within their allotted 50 overs.
Additionally, he also broke the record for being the fastest batter to reach 5,000 ODI runs.
Babar Azam surpassed the 18th ODI century landmark in his 97th innings, breaking the previous record set by former South African cricketer Hashim Amla, who reached this milestone in 101 innings. This remarkable feat highlights Babar’s exceptional batting skills and makes him one of the best ODI batsmen of all time.
New Zealand’s innings came to an end after scoring 232 runs in 43.4 overs, with skipper Tom Latham contributing 60 runs, while Mark Chapman and Daryl Mitchell chipped in with 46 and 34 runs respectively.
Although the New Zealand batting lineup showed some resistance, it was not enough to match Pakistan’s dominant performance.
Usama Mir, the leg-spinner, played a crucial role in leading Pakistan’s bowling attack with his career-best figures of 4wicjets for 43. Additionally, the pacers Mohammad Wasim and Haris Rauf were also impressive, taking three and two wickets respectively.
This fantastic performance by the bowlers restricted New Zealand to 232, allowing Pakistan to secure a comfortable 102 runs victory.
With this win, Pakistan took a 4-0 lead in the five-match series and claimed the number one spot in the official International Cricket Council (ICC) rankings for the first time since its recognition in 2005. Previously, Pakistan had reached the third spot in ODI rankings twice, first in January 2018 and again in June 2022.
