Multan, Pakistan, June 8 (AFP\/APP): Pakistan skipper Babar Azam became the first batter to knock three successive one-day international hundreds twice as he anchored a five-wicket win over the West Indies in Multan on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Ranked number one batter in both limited overs formats, Azam cracked a brilliant 107-ball 103 with nine boundaries to help Pakistan overhaul a tough 306-run target in 49.2 overs.<\/p>\n
Opener Shai Hope knocked 134-ball 127 for his 12th one-day international century to help the West Indies post an impressive 305-8 — their highest against Pakistan in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
The win gives Pakistan a 1-0 lead in the three match series and 10 crucial points in the ODI Super League, a qualification process for 2023 World Cup (50 overs) to be hosted by India.<\/p>\n
But once Azam and Mohammad Rizwan (59) fell in quick succession, Pakistan were in a spot of bother with 50 needed off 32 balls.<\/p>\n
Khushdil Shah lived up to his big hitting and carted four sixes in his 23-ball 41 not out — three successive in Romario Shepherd’s 47th over before Mohammad Nawaz hit the winnings six in the final over.<\/p>\n
Azam added 103 for the second wicket with Imam-ul-Haq who scored 71-ball 65 after opener Fakhar Zaman fell for 11.<\/p>\n
Haq hit six boundaries before he gave an easy catch, failing to keep a reverse sweep down off spinner Akeal Hosein.<\/p>\n
Azam added 108 with Rizwan for the third wicket and during that stand guided spinner Hayden Walsh to third man boundary for his 17th hundred in ODI cricket.<\/p>\n
Azam had knocked two hundreds in Pakistan’s last two one-day matches against Australia in March-April this year.<\/p>\n
He also smashed three hundreds in successive ODIs against the West Indies in United Arab Emirates in 2016.<\/p>\n
Former Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara hit four consecutive centuries in as many matches leads the chart with nine other batsmen have three successive centuries once each.<\/p>\n
Azam holed out to paceman Alzarri Jospeh who finished with 2-55.
\nEarlier, West Indies, who won the toss and batted, were guided by Hope and Shamarh Brooks.<\/p>\n
Hope, who cracked 15 boundaries and a six, added an innings-building 154 with Shamarh Brooks after the visitors lost opener Kyle Mayers for three in the third over, caught and bowled by pacer Shaheen Shah Afridi.<\/p>\n
Brooks scored a polished 83-ball 70 with seven boundaries.<\/p>\n
Fast bowler Haris Rauf, best of home bowlers with 4-77, ended Hope’s knock when he bowled him with a slower delivery in the 44th over.<\/p>\n
The scorching Multan heat — with temperatures soaring to between 40 to 42 degrees Celsius (104 to 107 degrees Fahrenheit — did not stop Hope and Brooks, who both batted with guts and power.<\/p>\n
Hope drove pacer Hasan Ali to cover boundary to reach three-figures off 118 balls, also completing 4,000 ODI runs in his 93rd match.<\/p>\n
He is the 11th West Indies batsman to reach the milestone in ODI cricket.<\/p>\n
It was a brilliant one-handed diving catch by Shadab Khan off Nawaz at short third man that dismissed Brooks, but only after he helped Hope in recovery.<\/p>\n
Skipper Nicholas Pooran hit three towering sixes in his 16-ball 21 while Rovman Powell made 32 off 23 balls and Shepherd took 25 off 18 as West Indies added 87 in the last ten overs.<\/p>\n
West Indies’s previous highest against Pakistan in Pakistan was 258-7 scored in Karachi in 1987.<\/p>\n
The second match is on Friday and third on Sunday, also in Multan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Multan, Pakistan, June 8 (AFP\/APP): Pakistan skipper Babar Azam became the first batter to knock three successive one-day international hundreds twice as he anchored a five-wicket win over the West Indies in Multan on Wednesday. Ranked number one batter in both limited overs formats, Azam […]<\/p>\n
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