LAHORE: Thrilling 117-run inning by world’s top-ranked batter Babar Azam followed by stunning bowling by Usama Mir and Mohammad Wasim Junior helped Pakistan beat New Zealand in fourth match to peak to No.1 on the ICC ODI Team Rankings.
Babar Azam led Pakistan’s rise to No.1 on Friday when he scored a 117-ball 107, his 18th career century, to steer Pakistan to 334 for six after it was put into bat. In turn, New Zealand slipped from 184 for three in 33.1 overs to 232 all-out in 43.4 overs with Usama Mir and Mohammad Wasim Junior sharing seven wickets between them.
When Babar reached 19, he completed 5,000 ODI runs, becoming the fastest to the milestone in 97 innings of 99 matches. He eclipsed Hashim Amla, who had achieved the feat in 101 innings. Babar’s innings was studded with 10 fours and he was involved in four fruitful partnerships.
As soon as Pakistan clinched top spot in ODI Rankings, Twitter started flooding with congratulatory messages. At the time of reporting this news, “Congratulations Pakistan” and “No.1” are trending on the microblogging site.
