Record-breaker Babar Azam lights up third England ODI

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Skipper Babar Azam becomes the fastest batsman to reach 14 One-day International (ODI) centuries, in 81 innings, as Pakistan set England a daunting target of 332 runs in the third match of the ongoing series at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

The record was previously held by South Africa’s Hashim Amla, who reached the milestone in 84 innings.

Pakistan were asked to bat first, after England’s captain Ben Stokes won the toss.

The visitors were rocked early when Saqib Mahmood dismissed opener Fakhar Zaman after the latter had scored six runs off 14 balls.

Pakistan had lost a flurry of wickets upfront, in the previous two matches, but Imamul Haq, along with Babar, ensured that this was not the case this time around.

The duo, who initially played with a cautious approach, compiled a 92-run partnership for the second wicket and provided the team with a solid foundation.

Imam was clean bowled, by a ripper from spinner Matt Parkinson, after scoring 56 runs off 73 balls.

Babar, who took 14 balls to get off the mark, paced his innings beautifully to reach his hundred off just 104 balls.

Mohammad Rizwan, who joined Babar after Imam’s departure, played an aggressive innings and complemented his captain in wonderful manner as Pakistan’s innings accelerated. The duo stitched a brilliant 179-run partnership of 120 balls to put Pakistan in a commanding position.

Rizwan, who scored 74 runs off 58 balls with the help of eight fours, was dismissed by pacer Brydon Carse in the 46^th over of the innings.

Babar was finally sent back to the hut in the final over of the innings but not before he had scored a mammoth 158 runs off 139 balls. His superb knock included 14 fours and four sixes.

A spell of quick wickets at the back end meant that Pakistan finished on 331/9 in their allotted 50 overs.

For England, Brydon Carse was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 5/61 in 10 overs. Meanwhile, Mahmood bagged three wickets.