Babar scores his maiden century in Lanka Premier League
It was his tenth T20 century
Pakistani skipper Babar Azam scored an exceptional century while representing Colombo Strikers against Galle Titans in the Lanka Premier League (LPL) at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium on Monday.
Titans batted first and gave Strikers a massive target of 189 runs.
Babar started Strikers’ innings with Pathum Nissanka and formed a 111-run stand with the Sri Lankan batter.
He reached his ton with eight fours and five sixes and scored a total of 104 runs on just 59 deliveries.
The Pakistani captain was awarded the Player of the Match award for his heroics, taking his T20s Player of the Match awards tally to 21.
Azam scored his tenth century in T20 cricket and became the first Asian batter to achieve the feat. He is now only behind Chris Gayle in most T20 centuries.
Though it was Babar who laid the foundation of the Strikers’ excellent inning, it was Pakistan’s Mohammad Nawaz who finished the game for his side with a fantastic display in the last over.
Nawaz came to bat when his team needed 14 off five balls, at one point it seemed over for Strikers but the left-handed batter proved his worth and scored 14 runs off just four deliveries with two boundaries and two doubles.
It must be noted that Azam continued his superb form in LPL as he scored 41 off 24 in his last game against Dambulla Aura and before that, the no.1 ODI batter scored an important half-century against B-Love Kendy on a difficult wicket and guided his team to a decent total of 157.
It is also worth mentioning that the Strikers have only won two games in LPL so far and Babar was the Player of the Match in both games.
Lineups
Colombo Strikers: Niroshan Dickwella (c & wk), Babar Azam, Pathum Nissanka, Nuwanidu Fernando, Mohammad Nawaz, Lahiru Udara, Chamika Karunaratne, Ramesh Mendis, Naseem Shah, Lakshan Sandakan, Matheesha Pathirana
Galle Titans: Shevon Daniel, Lasith Croospulle, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Tim Seifert (wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Dasun Shanaka (c), Akila Dananjaya, Kasun Rajitha, Minod Bhanuka, Tabraiz Shamsi, Richard Ngarava
