Babar Azam slams his fourth fifty in 2023 World Cup
Pakistan thrashed New Zealand by 21 runs (DLS method) to keep their semi-final hopes alive in the 2023 ICC Cricket World Cup. While Fakhar Zaman's century headlined Pakistan's triumph, Babar Azam complimented him well with an unbeaten 66 off 63 balls. This is his fourth half-century in the ongoing event and it could not have come at a better time. Here are his stats.
An important knock from Pakistan
Chasing 400, Pakistan lost Abdullah Shafique (4) cheaply. However, Zaman showcased remarkable character with his high-class batting. Skipper Babar supported him well as the duo added 194 runs. After playing the second fiddle early in the innings, Babar shifted gears to enhance the scoring rate. As a result, the Men in Green were 200/1 in 25.3 overs when rain stopped the play.
Fourth fifty in the competition
Playing his eighth game in the competition, Babar has raced to 282 runs at the event at an impressive average of 40.28. This was his third fifty in four outings as the talismanic batter would be raring to extend his golden run. Meanwhile, his strike rate of 82.69 at the event is certainly on the lower side.
1,000 runs in 2023 for Babar
During the course of his knock, Babar also completed 1,000 ODI runs in 2023. He took 24 games to accomplish 1,000 (1,027) ODI runs in 2023 as he averages 46.68 this year. The tally includes 10 fifties and two tons. Shubman Gill (1,426), Pathum Nissanka (1,108), Rohit Sharma (1,060), Virat Kohli (1,054), and Mitchell (1,027) are the others with 1,000-plus ODI runs this year.
Here are his ODI numbers
Earlier this year, Babar became the fastest to surpass 5,000 ODI runs, in only 97 innings. Playing his 116th ODI match, Babar has raced to 5,691 runs at 56.91. The tally includes 32 fifties and 19 tons. Notably, he has the best ODI average among Pakistani batters with at least 1,000 runs in this format. He overall owns 756 WC runs at 56.
Pakistan's joint-highest WC stand
As mentioned, Babar and Fakhar registered an unbeaten 194-run stand for the second wicket. As per ESPNcricinfo, this is Pakistan's joint-highest stand in WC history. In the 1999 event, Saeed Anwar and Wajahatullah Wasti also added as many runs against none other than New Zealand.
