Babar Azam on verge of creating history

Pakistan star batter Babar Azam is on the verge of several major milestones as Shaheen Shah Afridi-led unit is set to face Sri Lanka in a three-match series.

The series will be played in Rawalpindi.

Babar has a prolific record against the Islanders as he scored 535 runs with three centuries in 12 games.

If the 31-year-old scores another hundred during the upcoming series, he will equal former Pakistan greats Mohammad Hafeez and Inzamam-ul-Haq as the joint second-highest century-makers against Sri Lanka, with four tons each.

Also, he would also tie with great Saeed Anwar with the most ODI centuries for Pakistan, which is 20.

If Babar manages to reach 20 centuries within his next 41 innings, he will surpass AB de Villiers to become the third-fastest player in ODI history to achieve the milestone—behind only South Africa’s Hashim Amla (108 innings) and India’s Virat Kohli (133 innings).

Fastest players to 20 ODI centuries:

Hashim Amla – 108 innings

Virat Kohli – 133 innings

AB de Villiers – 175 innings

Rohit Sharma – 183 innings

He currently trails Pakistan’s 1992 World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan, who scored 636 runs against Sri Lanka. A tally of 102 runs in this series would see Babar surpass Imran on that list.

The former world number one batter is also Pakistan’s most consistent performers on home soil with the bat, scoring 4,848 runs across formats at an outstanding average of 51.57.

With 152 more runs, he will become only the fourth Pakistani batter to cross 5,000 international runs at home, joining legends Javed Miandad, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf.

Pakistan recently wrapped up a successful home series against South Africa, winning both the T20I and ODI series 2-1, while the Test series ended in a 1-1 draw.

The ODI matches against Sri Lanka will be played in Rawalpindi on November 11, 13 and 15.