Peshawar Zalmi captain Babar Azam has become the 13th cricketer to score a century in the Pakistan Super League on the back of playing a personal career-best innings in the history of the tournament. In what is the 17th PSL century, it powered Azam to register his first one after scoring a couple of 90* for Karachi Kings in the last two seasons.
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Fifth Pakistani cricketer to do so, Azam has joined the likes of Kamran Akmal, Sharjeel Khan, Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Rizwan as far as his former and current national teammates are concerned. Talking particularly about cricketers playing for Zalmi, Azam is only the second one after Akmal to achieve the milestone.
Although in a losing cause, Azam’s eighth T20 century saw him scoring 115* (65) with the help of 15 fours and three sixes at a strike rate of 176.92 against Quetta Gladiators in PSL 2023 Match 25 at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium tonight.
The glorious cover drive that brought up a memorable moment in his career. @babarazam258 has been on song and brilliant as usual. #SabSitarayHumaray l #HBLPSL8 l #PZvQG pic.twitter.com/uz0xxdwIO0
— PakistanSuperLeague (@thePSLt20) March 8, 2023
It is noteworthy that Azam has joined Australian trio comprising Michael Klinger, David Warner and Aaron Finch to be among four cricketers with eight T20 centuries to their names. The quartet shares the second position in the list of most T20 centuries in a career.
Azam, who was part of an 81-ball 162-run opening partnership alongside Saim Ayub (74), managed to achieve another record in the form of putting together the second-highest opening partnership in the PSL.
Babar Azam runs in PSL 8 (updated)
Second-highest run-scorer in the ongoing eight season of the PSL, Azam has scored 416 runs across nine innings at an average of 52 in his first-ever season for Peshawar thus far.
Babar Azam strike rate in PSL 2023 (updated)
Azam, who often finds himself in the middle of severe criticism around his big-hitting skills, has scored the aforementioned runs at a strike rate of 146.47. Readers must note that the right-handed batter has the third-lowest strike rate among the Top 10 PSL 8 highest run-scorers.
