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11/14 12:41 CST Babar's century drought ends as Pakistan hammers Sri Lanka in
2nd ODI
Babar's century drought ends as Pakistan hammers Sri Lanka in 2nd ODI
By RIZWAN ALI
AP Sports Writer
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (AP) --- Babar Azam's first international century in more
than two years anchored Pakistan's comfortable chase of 289 against scratchy
Sri Lanka in their series-clinching one-day international on Friday.
Pakistan won by eight wickets, cruising to 289-2 in 48.2 overs on Babar's
fluent unbeaten 102 off 119 balls. They have an unbeatable 2-0 lead in the
three-match series, which ends on Sunday.
Sri Lanka was restricted to 288-8 on a perfect batting pitch after six of the
top seven batters couldn't convert good starts.
The series was in doubt after Sri Lanka players wanted to leave the country
when a suicide bomber killed 12 people outside a court in Islamabad on Tuesday,
hours before the first ODI in nearby Rawalpindi.
However, Sri Lanka Cricket directed the team to finish the series after it was
reassured about security by the Pakistan Cricket Board.
Babar finally gets 100 Babar came into Friday's game without an international century in 83 innings across the formats, more than 800 days since a hundred against Nepal in the Asia Cup at Multan in August 2023. He dug in well against the spin threat of Wanindu Hasaranga, who finished wicketless with 0-35, but the Sri Lanka seamers couldn't control the wet ball because of dew and consistently missed their lengths. Babar raised his half-century off 68 balls with only three fours and grew in confidence. He pulled Pramod Madushan to midwicket for a single to complete his much-awaited century off 115 balls with eight fours. The crowd erupted and chanted "Babar, Babar" to celebrate the end of the drought by Pakistan's premier batter. His 20th ODI century equaled Saeed Anwar's Pakistan ODI record. The opening pair of Fakhar Zaman (78) and Saim Ayub (33) provided a rollicking start of 77 off 58 balls. Zaman was dropped twice in the 20s and a third time at fine leg just before his dismissal, a brilliant catch by Janith Liyanage at short midwicket. But by then he'd put on 100 runs with Babar to take the game away from Sri Lanka. Mohammad Rizwan, unbeaten on 51 off 54 balls, and Babar shared a 112-run stand to the win. Sri Lanka batters falter Kamil Mishara (27) in his second ODI and Pathum Nissanka (24) made a decent start of 51 runs for Sri Lanka inside the batting powerplay before Nissanka was run out against the run of play when he tried to go for a third run. Leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed, who recovered from illness, pegged back the visitors with three wickets. He dismissed Mishara, Kusal Mendis and captain Charith Asalanka and dropped the visitors to 98-4 in the 22nd over. Sadeera Samarawickrama (42) and Liyanage (54) revived the innings with a 61-run stand until Haris Rauf knocked back the off stump of Samarawickrama in his return spell. Rauf followed his four-wicket haul in the first ODI with 3-66 including the vital wicket of Kamindu Mendis (44) in the death overs. Hasaranga's late flurry of 37 off 26 balls helped to set a total that seasoned observers thought was still about 30-40 runs short of par. ___ AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket |
