Babar Azam scores hundred after 807 days:Pakistan beat Sri Lanka by 8 wickets, take 2-0 unassailable lead in 3-match ODI series

The Pakistan cricket team defeated Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in the second ODI match played in Rawalpindi, winning the three-match series 2-0. Sri Lanka, batting first, scored 288/8. In reply, the Pakistani team achieved the target in the 49th over with the help of innings from Fakhar Zaman (78) and Babar Azam (102*). Babar scored a century after two years Babar Azam, who came to bat at number three, scored an international century after two years (807 days) and helped the team to an easy victory with 102* runs. He completed his 20th ODI century with 8 fours in 119 balls. With this, he also equalled Saeed Anwar’s record for the most ODI centuries (20) for Pakistan. Pakistan, chasing a target of 289, got off to a good start thanks to Fakhar Zaman and Saim Ayub. The duo shared a 77-run partnership for the first wicket. Zaman scored his 18th ODI half-century. The left-handed batsman scored 78 runs off 93 balls, including 8 fours and 1 six. He also shared a 100-run partnership with Babar. Later, Mohammad Rizwan made the match one-sided with an unbeaten 112-run partnership with Babar, and Pakistan won the match with 10 balls to spare. Rizwan scored an unbeaten 52 runs off 51 balls. Asitha Fernando conceded runs at an average of 10 Sri Lanka’s new bowlers could not find their line and length from the start. Asitha Fernando conceded runs at an average of 10 in the powerplay. Pramod Madushan, who returned to international cricket after 18 months, conceded 19 runs in his first two overs. In 8 overs, Pakistan was 73/0 and the match became almost one-sided from there. Dushmantha Chameera conceded 58 runs in 10 overs and took 2 wickets. Zaman got three lifelines Sri Lanka’s fielding was even worse. Fakhar Zaman got three easy catching opportunities, twice at long-off and once in the deep. Babar was also dropped at 5 runs. After getting so many lifelines, Pakistan’s batters easily finished off the match. Janith Liyanage top-scored with 54 for Sri Lanka Batting first after losing the toss, Sri Lanka lost 4 wickets in the initial 20 overs. The team had reached 98/4. However, in the middle order, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Kamindu Mendis, Janith Liyanage and Wanindu Hasaranga played cautiously and contributed between 37 and 54 runs. Liyanage scored the highest 54 runs for the team. Hasaranga batted aggressively at the end to take the score to 288/8, but this target did not seem enough.