Live Score
Cricket Teams
Cricket Players‘You are the backbone of team’: Shahid Afridi names his pick to slam next ODI double ton for Pakistan
Pakistan vs Sri Lanka: Babar Azam recently surpassed India captain Virat Kohli to become the third fastest player to reach 11 ODI tons.
Former captain Shahid Afridi put his weight behind recently-crowned Pakistan vice-captain Babar Azam to score the next double century for national team in one-day internationals. Only six players have breached the 200-run mark in 50-over format and Pakistan have one representation in this illustrious list in Fakhar Zaman. Afridi feels that Azam can join Zaman in the exclusive club as he has been one of the most consistent performers for Pakistan in recent times.
Pakistan vs Sri Lanka 3rd ODI in Karachi: Live cricket score and updates
“I say to Babar Azam I want you to play long innings and you are not just a 50 runs type player, rather you are capable of scoring 100, 150 or 200,” Afridi said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel. “You are the backbone of the team and a consistent performer for Pakistan.”
Babar Azam recently surpassed India captain Virat Kohli to become the third fastest player to reach 11 ODI tons. The right-handed batsman reached the milestone in the 2nd ODI against Sri Lanka in Karachi. While Kohli had taken 82 innings to reach 11 ODI hundreds, Azam did it just his 71st innings. South Africa’s Hashim Amla is the quickest to 11 ODI tons, racing there in 64 innings. Another South Africa cricketer, Quinton de Kock, is second in the list, taking 65 innings to reach the milestone.
Also Read: Sarfaraz Ahmed does an MS Dhoni against Sri Lanka, twitter explodes
Azam on Monday also became the first Pakistan player this year to surpass 1,000 ODI runs in a calender year. The right-handed batsman went on to smash his 11th ODI hundred in the 2nd ODI against Sri Lanka in Karachi. While doing so, Azam smashed the record held by former captain Javed Miandad and became the fastest Pakistan batsman to cross 1,000 runs in a calender year.
While it had taken 21 innings for Miandad to do so in 1987, Azam achieved the same in just 19 innings. Former middle-order batsman Mohammed Yousuf and former batsman and current coach Misbah-ul-Haq share the third spot in the list, having taken 23 innings to reach the feat.
