The Inaugural match of the Asia Cup started in Multan Cricket Stadium, Where Pakistan’s batter Babar Azam scored a century against Nepal.
Babar Azam scores his 19th ODI Century
Babar Azam one of the best batters in his generation had smashed his 19th ODI century on 109 deliveries from the middle-order in the first match of the Asia Cup 2023. His hundred leads Pakistan to aim for a good total against Nepal. Azam’s partnership with Ifthikar Ahmed who brought up his ODI Hundred was impressive and backed Pakistan in the scoreboard.
Babar Azam scored 151 runs with 14 boundaries and 4 sixes and was sent out by Sompal in the last over of their innings. By the end, Pakistan scored 342 runs losing 6 wickets.
With Nepal bowlers sending the Pakistan openers Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq with low scores, Babar Azam is hitting boundaries and scoring runs making the first century of the event.
Pakistan captain Babar Azam won the toss and opted to bat in the Asia Cup opener in Multan. With their victory in the ODI series against Afghanistan in Sri Lanka 3-0 before the tournament, Pakistan is impressive in their first match of the event.
Mohammad Rizwan had scored 44 runs on 50 deliveries including 6 boundaries and was sent out by Dipendra Singh on run out. Sompal Kami had scalped two wickets on 10 overs giving 85 runs, while Karan KC and Sandeep Lamichhane had scalped one wicket each.
Babar Azam has joined the list of elite batters, which includes David Warner, and Brain Laura with 19 hundreds in ODI internationals and he is one step behind from Pakistan player Saeed Anwar who has 20 ODI centuries. Sachin Tendulkar tops the list with 49 centuries, followed by Virat Kohli with 46 and Rohit Sharma and Ricky Ponting with 30 ODI centuries.
Babar Azam becomes the third Pakistan Captain to hit a century in the Asia Cup matches. He had achieved a milestone and surpassed Gautam Gambhir in the list of Elite batters with the most ODI runs. Inazmam-ul-Haq has finished his ODI career with 11739 runs as Pakistan’s highest run scorer and stands in 7th position of the list. Sachin Tendulkar tops the list with 18426 runs.
After the Inaugural match, Pakistan will be facing their rivals India on September 2 at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. This will be the first ODI match between these teams since 2019.
