SA vs PAK: 1st ODI – Babar Azam’s milestone and other records from Pakistan’s victory

Pakistan registered a nail-biting victory against South Africa in the first ODI of the three-match series. The hosts had set a target of 275 runs in this game with the help of a superb century from Rassie Van der Dussen. He scored 123 runs off 134 balls with the help of 10 fours and 2 sixes. David Miller also contributed with a fine half-century. Shaheen Afridi and Haris Rauf picked up 2 wickets each in the first innings.

Chasing this target, Pakistan were well on the course of a victory having scored 186 runs for the loss of only 1 wicket by 32nd over. Babar Azam smacked a magnificent hundred for them scoring 103 runs off 104 balls including 17 fours. Opener Imam-ul-Haq also played a vital knock of 70 runs off 80 balls.

However, South Africa made a comeback and the visitors soon faced a collapse in their batting line-up making their way for a win difficult. The Babar-led team was somehow successful in winning the game by 3 wickets on the last ball of the match.

Let’s look at important stats and numbers after the end of the first ODI between Pakistan and South Africa:

10 – In the last 10 ODI games, Pakistan have not faced a single outright loss. This includes 9 wins and 1 tied game in which they lost to Zimbabwe in super over.

6– This was the sixth instance of Pakistan winning an ODI game on the last ball while chasing. The last time they won a game on the final ball was against India in 2005.

13 – This was Babar Azam’s 13th ODI century in 76 innings. He is the quickest to reach this milestone surpassing the likes of Hashim Amla (83), Virat Kohli (86) and Quinton de Kock (86).

13th ODI 100 for captain @babarazam258 ?#SAvPAK #HarHaalMainCricket #BackTheBoysInGreen pic.twitter.com/AmqaNxyZ8w

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) April 2, 2021

3683 – Babar now has 3683 ODI runs in 76 innings, which is second-most for any batsmen. Only, Hashim Amla (3734) had scored more runs than Babar in his first 76 ODI innings.

1904 – With a fine fifty in this game, Imam-ul-Haq has taken his runs tally to 1904 in ODIs. He has aggregated these runs in 41 innings, and only Hashim Amla had scored more runs (2156) in the first 41 innings than him.

2 – Babar Azam has now hit 2 tons in ODI chases while being a captain. No other captain from Pakistan has more than 1 century while chasing in ODIs.

2 – This was the second consecutive ODI hundred for the Pakistan captain. His last century came against Zimbabwe in 2020. He is the first captain from the country to hit a ton in successive ODIs.

15 – Rassie van der Dussen finally hit his first international century in this game. Before this, he had hit 15 fifties across formats without any ton.