Rawalpindi: Veteran batter Babar Azam achieved a significant milestone as he became Pakistan’s fifth cricketer to complete 16000 runs in international cricket during the ongoing ODI tri-series on Sunday here.
Babar became Pakistan’s third fastest player to reach the milestone during the first ODI of the tri-series against Sri Lanka at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, with England being the other side. He took just 399 innings to complete 16000 runs across the three formats, being third fastest for the Men in Green behind Mohammad Yousuf (388 innings) and Javed Miandad (398 innings).
He is just the fifth Pakistan player to get to the mark. Apart from him, Miandad and Yousuf, Inzamam-ul-Haq and Younis Khan have also made more than 16000 runs across the three formats.
The former white-ball skipper Babar got to the milestone against Sri Lanka. Coming into the match, he needed only seven runs to reach the mark, and he got there pretty quickly in his innings.
After Pakistan were sent in by Sri Lanka, Babar was out to bat at No.3 when Saim Ayub was caught at mid-off in the third over of the innings, bowled by Dilshan Madushanka.
Babar opened his account with a beautiful drive off Asitha Fernando before another drive through the off-side brought him three runs.
It was enough for him to reach 16000 runs in international cricket, but he wasn’t done, though. The recently turned 32-year-old unleashed a few more good-looking strokes as he made 45 from 57 balls before he was dismissed by Eshan Malinga. His stroke-filled knock included six fours.
Pakistan are currently hosting Sri Lanka and England in an ODI tri-series at home. The series began on Sunday and features seven matches in a double round-robin format. The final will be played between the top two teams at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on October 31.
–IANS–
