NEWS
Follow UsPakistan batter Babar Azam brought up his first fifty in 22 innings in international cricket on December 19 (Thursday). He got to this landmark in 73 deliveries against South Africa in the second One-Day International (ODI) in Cape Town.
His last score of 50 or more came in a T20 International (T20I) against Ireland in Dublin in May this year. This is also Babar's first ODI fifty since he scored an unbeaten 66 against New Zealand in Bengaluru at the ODI World Cup.
Since his last international fifty, Babar has struggled to get going in Tests, managing just 99 runs in six innings and in T20Is, he has managed 268 runs in 11 innings at a strike rate of 119.11.
In the 50-over format, while he averaged 51.50 before today, he scored just 103 runs in four innings, which included unbeaten knocks of 15 and 28 against Australia in Pakistan's historic series win in November.
Babar, who was axed as Pakistan captain following their exit from the ODI World Cup, has played over 300 matches for Pakistan across formats, hitting over 14,000 runs, including 31 hundreds and 95 fifties.
In the ongoing tour of South Africa, the hosts claimed a 2-0 win in the T20I series, but Pakistan took a 1-0 lead in the three-match ODI series with a three-wicket victory in Paarl
