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'Zimbabwe or Road ko special mention jana chahiye' - Fans react as Babar Azam becomes the fastest player to reach 5000 runs in ODIs

Babar Azam has been very consistent in ODIs, he became the fastest to 5000 ODI runs and scored his 18th century in the game vs NZ. Here's more

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Rohit Kumar
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Babar Azam, Pakistan

Babar Azam, Pakistan (Source: Twitter)

The last two years in ODI cricket have seen Babar Azam, the captain of Pakistan, display unbelievable consistency. He has recorded 13 fifty-plus hits, including four hundreds, and well over 1000 runs since July 2021 in just 16 innings of play. Babar broke Hashim Amla and Virat Kohli's previous record for the format on Friday when he struck his 14th half-century plus knock in the fourth ODI match against New Zealand at the National Stadium in Karachi.

Babar surpassed the milestone of 5000 runs in his ODI career on the way to his fifty, which was his third in a row in the series. And having accomplished the goal in just his 97th ODI innings, Babar broke the record for the quickest batsman to reach 5000 runs, previously held by experienced South African batter Amla. Kohli and Viv Richards had both accomplished the feat in their 114th innings. David Warner of Australia is next in line with 115 innings. Babar came close to breaking Amla's 4000 ODI run world record last year. He had completed the feat in 82 innings, one more than Amla.

Babar Azam is also the fastest to 18 ODI centuries

Regarding the series, Pakistan has already clinched victory after winning the first three games. They won the first two games at Rawalpindi by margins of five and seven wickets, respectively, and in the third game in Karachi, they defeated the Black Caps by a score of 26 runs. New Zealand is currently vying for a consolation victory in the fourth game. The National Stadium will host the final New Zealand trip match, featuring a three-match T20I series.

Azam, who had been ranked as the top hitter by the Apex Cricket Council for the previous two years, hit 10 boundaries before being bowled by Ben Lister, a rookie, in the 48th over and caught at deep midwicket. He is the 14th player from Pakistan to score 5,000 or more runs in one-day internationals (ODIs), with former skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq leading the way with 11,701 runs. Azam also broke Amla's record of 18 hundreds in 102 innings by becoming the player to reach 18 ODI hundreds the fastest. In his 46-ball innings, Salman contributed with two sixes and four boundaries before being caught and bowled by bowler Matt Henry, who finished with 3-65. In his seven-ball 23 not out, Shaheen Shah Afridi blasted three sixes and a boundary as Pakistan scored 94 runs in the final 10 overs. Pakistan is 3-0 up in the five-match series.

Here's how fans reacted:

Pakistan featured Babar Azam New Zealand PAK vs NZ