Azam’s 26-ball ton, Malik’s six sixes demonstrate T10 format's exciting potential
Pakistani cricket stars on Sunday showed the world how exhilarating Ten10 cricket can be when they put on a hitting show far grander than the ones usually seen in Twenty20 cricket, Cricket Country reported.
Played for the benefit of Shahid Afridi’s Hope Not Out charity foundation, the 10-a-side exhibition match in Faisalabad saw an assortment of cricketers — several of them current internationals — divided between two teams: Red and Green.
The Reds batted first and piled up a mammoth 210-run total, the highlight of which was Shoaib Malik’s 20-ball 84, which also saw him smash international teammate Babar Azam for six consecutive sixes — evoking the memories of Yuvraj Singh’s famous 36-run-shellacking of Stuart Broad at the 2007 ICC World T20.
But anything Malik did, Azam showed he could do even better when he came out to bat in the second innings, wielding his willow with even greater ferocity.
Despite not being a natural slogger, Azam hit 11 sixes on his way to an incredible 26-ball century, ensuring that his team, the Greens, were victorious.