Pakistan skipper Babar Azam led from the front and propelled his side to a nine-wicket win in the third T20I against South Africa at SuperSport Park in💧 Centurion on Wednesday.
Azam hit a 49-ball century, which is now the fastest by a captain in the shortest format of the game. With the help of his maiden T20I ton, Pakistan chased down the mammoth target of 204 with tw🍸o overs to spare.
Azam, who recently dethroned Indian talisman Virat Kohli from the top position in the latest released ICC ODI rankings, smashed 15 fours and four sixes in his 59-ball stay at the crease. His opening partner, Mohammad Rizwan, scored an unbeaten 73 off 47 as they added a 🥃record first wicket partne𓄧rship of 197.
Pakistan has now taken a 2-1 ♎lead in the four-match 𒉰series.
Brief scores:
South Africa 203-5 (Aiden Markram 63, Janneman Malan 55) lost to Pakistan 205-1 ♚(Babar Azam 122꧑, Mohammad Rizwan 73 not out) by 9 wickets.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
aaj aapka din hai MashaAllah! Khuda karay har din aapka di😼n or Pakistan ka din ꩵho🙏🏽 Loved that 💯 ! Congratulations team wonderful stuff🙌🏽
— Imad Wasim (@simadwasim)
Yet another superb win by Pakistan. Gr༺eat performance! This new Aggressive & Go-Getter mentality is simply meritoriou꧃s.Right attitude & great team effort. Led from the front by & Dear u are a champ!Must also appreciate Welldone
— Faisal Javed Khan (@FaisalJavedKhan)
Baber Azam & Rizwan shown sublime☂ batting performance. A dream partnership by The openers. Boys in Green were at their best. Babar has simply proven that he is number 1 batsman of the world. Congratulations Pakistan!!!
— Shehryar Afridi (@ShehryarAfridi1)
Brilliant Babar with Supreme authority wins another 🐟series.
— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph)
This is the fastest T20 century by a Pakistani batsman – What an innings by Babar Azam!
— Wajahat Kazmi (@KazmiWajahat)
To me this is one of the greatest t20i innings of all times. Absolutely amazing!
Take a bow 🙏🏽🇵🇰— Ahmad Shahzad 🇵🇰 (@iamAhmadshahzad)
Century by
Brilliant batting 👏👏👏— Farah Iqrar (@farah_iqrar_)
Pakistan have played some good c🍎ricket quite often since the pandemic. Congrats on what must have been an outstanding batting performance by ♈Babar Azam and Rizwan again.
— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi)
Most 100s in T20s since 2019
5 Babar Azam
3 Dawid Malan— Mazher Arshad (@MazherArshad)
Babar Azam out after scoring 122. Highes♐t individual score by a Pakistani in T20Is, highest individual score by anyone against South Africa. 197 for the first wicket with Rizwan, highest by any team in a run chase, highest for any wicket against SA, highest for any wicket for Pak
— Faizan Lakhani (@faizanlakhani)
Wow that was a💯 proper batting masterclass from the world number 1 ��
— Maz Bonafide (@MazBONAFIDE)
Babar Azam "This is another milestone in my car🍷eer, which will now require even more hard work & consistency in order for me to hold on to the🌳 ranking for an extended period of time, like Sir Vivian Richards from January 1984 to October 1988 & Virat Kohli for 1,258 days"
— Saj Sadiq (@SajSadiqCricket)
//twitter.com/APMLOfficia😼l_/status/1382362289504849924
Winning with two overs to spare,qu🤡ite a performance,great runniꦓng b/w the wickets by Riz and Babar as well,fantastic all round.
— zainab abbas (@ZAbbasOfficial)
