Babar sets new record despite missing ton
Pakistan skipper Babar Azam has made a habit of breaking and setting new records almost every time that he goes out to bat.
The 27-year-old right-hander missed out on a ton for just 23 runs in Pakistan's second ODI against West Indies on Friday but still managed to etch his name in the record books. It was Babar's ninth consecutive fifty-plus score in international cricket across all formats, which is now the longest streak for any batter.
Babar began with a 196 during the second Test of their series against Australia. He then followed it up with scores of 66 and 55 in the third and the final Test respectively.
In the following ODI series against Australia, Babar scored 57 in the first ODI before smashing two centuries -- 114 and an unbeaten 105 -- in the second and third ODI respectively.
And the right-hander began the ongoing series with another century, a 107-ball 103, in the first ODI against West Indies in Multan before notching a score of 77 in the second ODI.
Babar looked set to score a century in the second game against the Windies as well but unfortunately mistimed an Akeal Hosein delivery and ended up giving a return catch to the left-arm spinner in the 36th over of the game, which Pakistan eventually won by 120 runs to seal the series 2-0 with a game in hand.
A century could have seen Babar become only the second batter in history to score four consecutive tons in ODIs after Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara, who had achieved the feat in the 2015 World Cup. But Babar would not be too disappointed to miss out on matching Sangakkara's heights as the current number 1 batter in ODIs and T20Is did surpass India's Virat Kohli to reach the 1000-run mark as the skipper.
Babar, who reached the 1000-run mark in 13 games as the captain of Pakistan, became the fastest captain to do so. Previously, former India captain Kohli held the record for reaching the landmark score in 17 matches as captain.
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