KARACHI: Babar Azam is a gift that keeps giving. And the Pakistan skipper gave another during the fourth One-day International against New Zealand here at the National Bank Stadium on Friday.

Arriving onto the crease after Fakhar Zaman’s early departure for his 97th ODI innings, Babar needed just 19 runs to become the fastest-ever to reach 5000 runs in the format.

As anyone would expect from a batter of his stature, he reached the milestone on his 26th ball, beating South African Hashim Amla by four innings.

The right-hander registered his 27th ODI half-century 32 deliveries later and turned it into his 18th century on his 113th ball — becoming the quickest batter to score as many tons and celebrating it with the trademark leap and roar before going down in prostration.

Thanks to a swashbuckling show by the Pakistan lower middle-order, Babar’s knock of 107 off 117 balls would go on to give Pakistan a 102-run win, a 4-0 lead in the series and the number one spot in the ICC ODI Rankings — to sustain which Pakistan need to complete a whitewash over the second-string Black Caps.

Although he was the main feature of the match, Babar’s role was more of an anchor as others around him shone in his limelight, celebrating their captain’s milestones

Pakistan, however, changed gears only after Shan Masood (44) — coming in for Imam-ul-Haq — and Mohammad Rizwan (24 off 28) departed. It were Babar and Agha Salman who upped the ante after the 30th over and the pair shared five boundaries between them in 15 balls as the former took Pakistan past 200 with a pull off leg-spinner Ish Sodhi for four.

Salman reached his second ODI half century in 40 balls and his 100-run partnership with Babar with a towering six over long-off off off-spinner Cole McConchie in the 40th over, which he wrapped up with an even better hit down the ground for six more.

It was an acrobatic effort by Henry off his own bowling in the next over as the right-armer’s bouncer forced Salman (58 off 46, fours fours and two sixes) to push the ball into the air for the bowler to dive and grab it safely, ending the batter’s 100-ball 117 run partnership with Babar.

As anticipation for Babar’s century rose and so did chants for him, the incoming Iftikhar Ahmed — playing in place of Mohammad Nawaz — shifted the spotlight off his captain for a while with three consecutive fours off Tickner in the 46th over just before Babar reached the milestone, triggering celebrations among the sparse crowd.

Iftikhar, however, skied another attempt to go big two balls later to depart at 28 off 22. Babar followed after smashing Ben Lister down the ground for his last boundary as he found McConchie at deep midwicket.

Their captain’s departure gave way to Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Haris — replacing Abdulah Shafique — to launch their own fireworks, which featured three huge sixes and a four by the former in the final over of the innings by Tickner as the duo partnered up to score 38 runs in the last two overs to take Pakistan to 334-6.

The scoreboard pressure was on New Zealand from the start of their pursuit of the mammoth target. New Zealand opener Tom Blundell pushed far to ease it, with an early onslaught against the Pakistan pacers, only to see himself and his partner Will Young back in the dressing room with their team reeling at 46-2 by the end of the ninth over.

Apart from an 83-run partnership off 103 balls between New Zealand captain Tom Latham (60) and Daryl Mitchell (34), only Mark Chapman’s onslaught of 46 posed some kind of threat towards Pakistan’s ambitions for a whitewash.

After a thick edge off Mitchell’s bat ended up in Shaheen’s hands at short third-man to give leg-spinner Usama Mir — replacing Shadab Khan — his first wicket, Chapman launched off-spinner Iftikhar over extra-cover for a six to start off his fireworks. The left-hander hit a six and four off Salman’s off-break in the next over and targeted Iftikhar again for a similar result.

Sensing danger, stand-in captain Rizwan — with Babar off the field due to a suspected hand injury — brought pacers back into the attack, which slowed New Zealand down again and forced Latham to falter as the southpaw got a faint edge off Shaheen for Rizwan to take an easy catch behind the wickets in the 34th over.

As the asking rate rose, New Zealand found themselves stuck in a shell with Usama returning two overs later to clean up Chapman and Haris Rauf – back into the line-up in place of Naseem Shah — shattering Jimmy Neesham’s stumps to effectively wrap up the proceedings.

Usama went on to get rid of the New Zealand tail to finished with figures of 4-43 in 10 overs before Mohammad Wasim (3-40), who had dismissed Blundell and McConchie earlier, finished things off with Blair Tickner’s wicket.

SCOREBOARD

PAKISTAN:

Fakhar Zaman c Blundell b Henry 14

Shan Masood st Blundell b Sodhi 44

Babar Azam c McConchie b Lister 107

Mohammad Rizwan run out (Henry) 24

Agha Salman c & b Henry 58

Iftikhar Ahmed c Blundell b Henry 28

Mohammad Haris not out 17

Shaheen Shah Afridi not out 23

EXTRAS (LB-9, W-10) 19

TOTAL (for six wkts, 50 overs) 334

DID NOT BAT: Usama Mir, Mohammad Wasim, Haris Rauf.

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-36 (Fakhar), 2-86 (Shan), 3-128 (Rizwan), 4-245 (Salman), 5-286 (Iftikhar), 6-296 (Babar).

BOWLING: Henry 10-1-65-3, Lister 10-0-57-1 (4w), Tickner 8-0-74-0 (1w), Sodhi 10-1-53-1, McConchie 10-0-61-0 (1w), Neesham 2-0-15-0.

NEW ZEALAND:

W. Young c Haris b Wasim 15

T. Blundell c Iftikhar b Haris 23

D. Mitchell c Shaheen b Usama 34

T. Latham c Rizwan b Shaheen 60

M. Chapman b Usama 46

J. Neesham b Haris 11

C. McConchie c Rizwan b Wasim 8

I. Sodhi st Rizwan b Usama 9

M. Henry c Haris b Usama 5

B. Tickner b Wasim 6

B. Lister not out 1

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-7, NB-1, W-5) 14

TOTAL (all out, 43.4 overs) 232

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-36 (Young), 2-46 (Blundell), 3-129 (Mitchell), 4-184 (Latham), 5-201 (Chapman), 6-205 (Neesham), 7-219 (McConchie), 8-221 (Sodhi), 9-230 (Henry).

BOWLING: Shaheen 6-1-34-1 (1w), Haris 8-0-37-2, Wasim 8.4-1-40-3 (2w), Salman 9-0-49-0, Usama 10-0-43-4 (2w, 1nb), Iftikhar 2-0-21-0.

RESULT: Pakistan won by 102 runs.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2023