Babar Azam becomes fastest batter to score 15 ODI centuries

LAHORE: Pakistan skipper and flamboyant Babar Azam has added another feather to his cap by becoming the fastest batter in the world to score 15 one-day international (ODI) centuries.

The marquee batter has reached the milestone in 83 innings, surpassing South African legend Hashim Amla who got to 15 centuries mark in 86 innings. No other batter could score 15 centuries in less than 100 innings.

Virat Kohli is 3rd on the list and took 106 innings to reach the mark of 15 ODI centuries. Babar average a century in his ODI career every 5.5 innings, which is a remarkable return.

Babar Azam’s 15th century came against Australia where he managed 114 runs off 83 deliveries including 11 boundaries and one maximum. His century propelled Pakistan to secure a historic victory against the Aussies in the second ODI to level the series 1-1.

Here is the complete list of players who are the quickest to 15 ODI centuries:

Babar Azam – 83

Hashim Amla – 86

Virat Kohli – 106

David Warner – 108

Shikhar Dhawan – 108

In addition to this, Babar has now scored four centuries (three came while chasing) as a captain. He has surpassed Azhar Ali’s tally of three centuries as a skipper.

Earlier, in the first ODI of the three-match series, Babar had become the fastest Asian batter to reach the 4,000 ODI runs mark, he was only one inning short of levelling Hashim Amla’s record quickest to 4,000 runs in ODIs.

Babar had earlier scored his 14th century in the 81st inning, 13th in the 76th innings — both quickest for the respective sequence number.