England vs Pakistan: Babar Azam creates new records with 158-run knock, surpasses Amla-Kohli among others

Babar Azam displayed his brilliant class with a magnificent knock against England in the last ODI of the three-match series. The Pakistan captain smashed 158 runs off 139 balls with the help of 14 fours and 4 sixes. He proved why is currently ranked as the number 1 batsman in the ODI rankings.

Babar Azam powered his side to a big total of 331/9 in 50 overs with Mohammad Rizwan also contributing 74 runs off 58 balls. For the hosts, Brydon Carse picked up 5 wickets for 61 runs in his 10 overs. Saqib Mahmood also continued his superb form, picking up 3 wickets for 60 runs.

Here are the records and milestones achieved by Babar Azam with his 158-run knock in the third ODI against England:

1 – Babar Azam became the first Pakistan captain to hit 150 runs in an ODI inning. Before him, the highest ODI score for Pakistan as a captain belonged to Shoaib Malik who hit 125* runs against India in 2008.

14 – This was the 14th ton for the Pakistan skipper in the 50-over format. He is the quickest to complete 14 ODI hundreds in terms of innings (81). Babar surpassed many stalwarts in this regard including Hashim Amla (84 innings), David Warner (98) and Virat Kohli (103).

158 – Babar Azam’s score of 158 was the highest by a Pakistan player in an ODI in England. Earlier, Imam-ul-Haq hit 151 runs against England in 2019.

2 – The prolific batsman became only the second Pakistan captain after Imran Khan to hit an ODI century in England. Imran Khan hit 102* runs against Sri Lanka in World Cup 1983 held in England.

3 – The right-hander has now hit 3 ODI hundreds as captain. He has equalled Azhar Ali in this regard to attaining the joint-top spot.

3 – Babar Azam’s score of 158 runs in this game was the third-highest individual score as a captain in England. Only Kapil Dev (175* v Zimbabwe, 1983) and Glenn Turner (171* v East Africa) are ahead of him.

8 – This was the 8th score of fifty or above in England for the stylish batsman. He surpassed Mohammad Yousuf (7) and  Zaheer Abbas (7) in this regard to reach first position among Pakistan players.

2 – Babar now has 3985 runs in 81 innings in ODI cricket. Only Hashim Amla had more ODI runs (4041) after playing as many innings.